Daddy Long-Legs

[Pogo]

There is an urban legend that says Daddy Long-Legs are the most poisonous spiders in the world. This is false for a couple of reasons.

#1 Most people mistake daddy long leg spiders for daddy long legs. There is a difference. There is no record of anyone being bitten by a Daddy Long-Leg Spider.

#2 True daddy long legs live under rocks and logs and aren't even spiders. They have no venom sacs and therefore, are not poisonous.

#3 Since no one has ever been bitten by a daddy long leg spider, the only way to test it's venom's effects on humans would be to extract the venom and inject it into a human. Obviously, this is illegal.

This myth probably arose from people observing Daddy long legs eating red-back spiders (which are deadly). The thinking was that if they can kill a poisonous, deadly spider, they must be even MORE deadly and poisonous.

[Wrighty]

This is a true story. Daddy long legs teeth are not big enough to penetrate human skin as we have 3 or 4 layers but if we were smaller they would be able to penetrate it and hurt us. There is no record of a daddy long legs biting us because you can not feel it as there teeth are tiny.

Edited August 15, 2005 by wrighty

[343 Guilty Spark]

I thought daddy long legs could fly. Or is this harvest men your talking about?

[Moose-Of-Armageddon]

I thought daddy long legs could fly. Or is this harvest men your talking about?

793091[/snapback]

You're thinking about Crane-flies

[NJC]

I thought daddy long legs could fly. Or is this harvest men your talking about?

793091[/snapback]

You're thinking about Crane-flies

793101[/snapback]

DADDY big wings

[ROGER]

This little cutey?

[PuffyAmiYumi]

If you eat loads of em, theyre poisness.

[Commander CMG]

There is no evidence in the scientific literature to suggest that Daddy-long-legs spiders are dangerously venomous. Daddy-long-legs have venom glands and fangs but their fangs are very small. The jaw bases are fused together, giving the fangs a narrow gape that would make attempts to bite through human skin ineffective.

However, Daddy-long-legs Spiders can kill and eat other spiders, including Redback Spiders whose venom can be fatal to humans. Perhaps this is the origin of the rumour that Daddy-long-legs are the most venomous spiders in the world. The argument is sometimes put that if they can kill a deadly spider they must be even more deadly themselves. However this is not correct. Behavioural and structural characteristics, such as silk wrapping of prey using their long legs, are very important in the Daddy-long-legs' ability to immobilise and kill Redbacks. Also, the effect of the Daddy-long-legs' venom on spider or insect prey has little bearing on its effect in humans

[Barnacle Battlefront]

This myth probably arose from people observing Daddy long legs eating red-back spiders (which are deadly). The thinking was that if they can kill a poisonous, deadly spider, they must be even MORE deadly and poisonous.

791995[/snapback]

this is probably due to the fact that they are one of the oly spiders that can succesfully capture a red back spider because they do not have any major blood vessels in their legs, therefor, the redbacks venom is useless because it cannot reach anywhere it could bite to kill the daddy long legs