Think this is a spider? Well, you're wrong.

[AgentDrex]

 

[AgentDrex]

If it's not a spider, what arachnid is it then? No cheating by looking at the file name...

 

[DanFinePhotography]

Looks like what we call daddy long legs but i dont really have a clue. Cool pic BTW :thumbup:

 

[NateS]

A harvestman. Any true bug guy knows that a Harvestman is not a spider, but just another arachnid....just like a scorpion is an arachnid...but clearly not a spider.

....and they are not venomous despite the urban myth. They have no venom glands and actually have no fangs. What they do have that appear as fangs are nothing more than pinchers for grabbing their prey.

 

[Mustlovedragons]

That may well be true to those who know but no amount of scientific data has ever been able to talk sense into my arachnophobia with regard to these long-legged monsters.

 

[misstwinklytoes]

My dad used to put granddaddy long legs down my shirt. I also have arachnophobia.

 

[AgentDrex]

Yes, it is definitely a Harvestman. You can tell the difference between it and a true spider by the simple fact it has an unsegmented body. I don't know how people get it in their heads that these are the most venomous spiders in the world, considering they eat vegetation which would require no venom. The true "daddy long legs" have venom but prey on insects, so how they would need potent venom is beyond me.

 

[pez]

Yes, it is definitely a Harvestman. You can tell the difference between it and a true spider by the simple fact it has an unsegmented body. I don't know how people get it in their heads that these are the most venomous spiders in the world, considering they eat vegetation which would require no venom. The true "daddy long legs" have venom but prey on insects, so how they would need potent venom is beyond me.

WOW, now this thread has destroyed an urban myth that I never bothered to check out!! :blushing:

 

[NateS]

Yes, it is definitely a Harvestman. You can tell the difference between it and a true spider by the simple fact it has an unsegmented body. I don't know how people get it in their heads that these are the most venomous spiders in the world, considering they eat vegetation which would require no venom. The true "daddy long legs" have venom but prey on insects, so how they would need potent venom is beyond me.

The fact that it has only two eyes is another giveaway. True Daddy long legs have venom but even then it's not very potent at all and wouldn't be very dangerous to humans....not sure where that myth started.

Surprisingly, most people I talk to know that Harvestman's are not spiders...most don't know that they are not venomous...and that they don't even have venom glands or fangs. I actually get some people that have the nerve to argue with me on the point....and I just think.... "seriously? I have a stack of books about different species of insects that I read for fun, yet your hearsay knowledge on insects is greater than mine?"

 

[AgentDrex]

Yup, lots of sheeple out there

 

[hazeleyes1992]

I was always told that daddy long leggers did have fangs, but they couldn't get them through your skin because their fangs were too weak to get through human flesh.

 

[NateS]

I was always told that daddy long leggers did have fangs, but they couldn't get them through your skin because their fangs were too weak to get through human flesh.

That's an integral part of the myth....of which is also false.