# daddy long legs...a spider???

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daddy-long-legs-a-spider/263070>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 4, 2004, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daddy-long-legs-a-spider/263070 "2004-09-04T03:22:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\
**Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daddy-long-legs-a-spider/263070/21 "2004-09-05T00:50:18Z")

</div>

> [@Fatwater Fewl](#):
>
> Just like **Johnny L.A.** , we here in eastern Canada know the [Pholcus phalangioides](http://caliban.mpiz-koeln.mpg.de/~stueber/essays/pholcus/pholcus_phalangioides.html) spider as the daddy-longlegs. I’ve never seen a harvestman.

I see lots of harvestmen (harvestmans??) around my house. They are what I have always known as daddy long legs.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\
**Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daddy-long-legs-a-spider/263070/22 "2004-09-05T03:51:10Z")

</div>

So which is the model for that recent sci fi movie?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\
**Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daddy-long-legs-a-spider/263070/23 "2004-09-05T04:24:28Z")

</div>

Around here, what we call Daddy-Longlegs is a little grey spider. It appears to be a true spider, not a harvestman, altho’ I confess that I’ve never gotten close enough for a good look. After reading the first link, it’s probably a _Pholcus phalangioides._

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\
**Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daddy-long-legs-a-spider/263070/24 "2004-09-05T07:50:02Z")

</div>

Wanna hear something interesting? Tarantulas are considered by some scientists not to be spiders. It’s still under debate, but at this time the order \*Araneae \*has been divided into three “suborders”: [

> [@](#):
>
> ]([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider)) . . . the \*Mygalomorphae \*(the primitive spiders), the \*Araneomorphae \*(the modern spiders) and the _Mesothelae_, which contains the Family Liphistiidae, rarely seen burrowing spiders from Asia. . . .

Tarantulas are _Mygalomorphs_. They’re distinguished from “modern spiders” by the orientation of their fangs: _Mygalomorphs_’ fangs point downward, and are not jointed: they must raise up on their feet and stab their whole body downward to “bite.” Modern spiders’ fangs are pincerlike, and move horizonally. I suspect that these “suborders” are the first step toward declaring them three different orders.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daddy-long-legs-a-spider/263070.md?page=1)