# Daddy Long Legs Spider

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daddy-long-legs-spider/801991>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [November 18, 2017, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daddy-long-legs-spider/801991 "2017-11-18T15:27:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![f.coli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eada6e/32.png) [@f.coli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/f.coli)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2017, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daddy-long-legs-spider/801991/1 "2017-11-18T15:27:08Z")

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The Daddy Long Legs myth ([Is a Daddy Long Legs the most poisonous spider? - The Straight Dope](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1447/is-a-daddy-long-legs-the-most-poisonous-spider)) was emphatically busted by the Mythbusters, who showed that the spider could indeed penetrate human skin with their fangs, and that their venom was not fatal to humans. BTW, Hyneman and Savage could legitimately challenge Cecil’s claim to be the world’s smartest human.

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**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2017, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daddy-long-legs-spider/801991/2 "2017-11-18T17:01:42Z")

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Of course the _Mythbusters_ episode was aired five years after the column. 😉

I happened to read the column last night, and I almost started a thread. This stuck out:

> [@Dogster](#):
>
> In fact, the Daddy Longlegs is not technically a spider, although it is an arachnid.

**Dogster** seems to be saying that the _harvestman_, an arachnid of the order _Opiliones_ that is known as ‘daddy long legs’ is ‘not technically a spider’ – and he is correct. But the ‘daddy long legs’ that is being asked about _is_ a spider of the order _Pholcidae_. I was going to call him on that, but he later correctly identifies the creature as ‘a spider: _Pholcus phalangioides_.’

I think the column should have indicated that the harvestman is not a spider, but the arachnid being asked about is, indeed, a spider.

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**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2017, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daddy-long-legs-spider/801991/3 "2017-11-18T17:09:23Z")

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> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> I think the column should have indicated that the harvestman is not a spider, but the arachnid being asked about is, indeed, a spider.

You mean like this?

> [@](#):
>
> "The problem with the ‘Daddy Longlegs’ is that the name is used for several kinds of animals, 2 of them arachnids:
> 
> 1. The family Phalangiidae (a part of the opilionids [harvestmen], a different order than spiders)
> 2. a spider: Pholcus phalangioides

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2017, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daddy-long-legs-spider/801991/4 "2017-11-18T17:26:42Z")

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> [@Darren\_Garrison](#):
>
> You mean like this?

As I said. It seemed like an afterthought, and should have been included in the first paragraph.

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**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2017, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daddy-long-legs-spider/801991/5 "2017-11-18T17:31:14Z")

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> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> As I said. It seemed like an afterthought, and should have been included in the first paragraph.

Your mistake is in thinking that the question is “clearly” about the spider known as the Daddy Longlegs, when it isn’t clearly about that. It is indeed the harvestman that I have always heard as being the one that is super poisonous, not the real spider.