I see lots of harvestmen (harvestmans??) around my house. They are what I have always known as daddy long legs.
So which is the model for that recent sci fi movie?
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.
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”: [
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.