Daddy Long Legs Spider

Posted on December 28, 2011

Daddy Long Legs inhabit a fascinating area of spider and non-spider worlds. Because this is a “common name”, there are actually two ENTIRELY different sets of creatures which are called this. It is sort of like how you can call a tiny minnow a “fish” and also call a giant whale (mistakenly) a “fish”. In this case there is a Daddy Long Legs which IS a spider – and there is also a Daddy Long Legs which looks close to the same but is NOT a spider.
First because we’re on the spiders page, let’s talk about the spider version. The term “daddy long legs” is generally applied to cellar spiders of the long legged variety. Cellar spiders are in the family pholcidae.
However, the far more common version that most people see wandering around their homes or back yards are the NON spider versions. These are actually “harvestmen” – and yes, they have eight legs. They are part of the Arachnida class, just like spiders, but they are part of the Opiliones order. One key difference? Spiders have a front head part, and then a back body part. When you look at spiders you can see there are different “pieces” to what makes up their central area. In comparison, harvestmen just have ONE oval central unit. That’s it. One part.
http://www.suttonmass.org/animals/spiders/

Tagged with: daddy long legs spider, fall, harvestmen, spider, winter

Daddy Long Legs Spider

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