# Poisonous spider **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [December 25, 2005, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisonous-spider/337144 "2005-12-25T06:50:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [December 28, 2005, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisonous-spider/337144/21 "2005-12-28T17:03:17Z")
> [@Tenebrosus](#): > > But in the US, Americans typically use the word daddy long legs to describe opilionids. > > Pholcids, like the extremely Pholcus phalangoides, have very long, slender legs and may be called daddy long legs for that reason in the US by some folks. But most professionals, when asked about a daddy long legs someone found, is almost always given a opilionid. I can say in my ten years as the local arachnologist, the only daddy long legs that I have been given by locals were opilionids. I was born in Southern California, raised in San Diego and Lancaster, and lived in L.A. for nearly two decades. In my experience, ‘daddy long-legs’ always referred to the spider. I never saw a harvestman outside of a photograph until two years ago when I moved to the Pacific Northwest. Maybe calling the spiders DDLs is a Southern California thing? (Hey, I only recently found out that many people outside of SoCal don’t know what a ‘chili size’ is.) Re: the link. It worked yesterday when I posted it. It had a really neat 3-D shot of the spider. (Fortunately I have my ‘ghost finder’ thingy that came with the DVD of the original _13 Ghosts_. 😉 ) I’m getting a ‘disc space violation’ message. I apologise to the author, if he tracks the link back here. (Perhaps a mod can delete it with an explanation?) ---
**Author:** ![nd\_n8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/439d5e/32.png) [@nd\_n8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nd_n8)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2005, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisonous-spider/337144/22 "2005-12-28T18:32:00Z")
I apologize for my incorrect assumption, it was based on your writing style. The corrected version is > [@Presumptious Dumbass](#): > > (Tenebrosus probably could have told us that if **she** had been in the woods with us, too late now though :smack: ) Please don’t tell our new arachnid overlords, I for one welcome them. I read your article on [Dolomedes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolomedes), very interesting. I also would like to say Welcome, it’s good to kibbitz with someone who knows from which they speak. > [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > (Hey, I only recently found out that many people outside of SoCal don’t know what a ‘chili size’ is.) Ok, I’ll bite, what is a chili size? ---
**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:** [December 28, 2005, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisonous-spider/337144/23 "2005-12-28T19:26:11Z")
> [@nd\_n8](#): > > Ok, I’ll bite, what is a chili size? [Chili size](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=349716). ---
**Author:** ![nd\_n8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/439d5e/32.png) [@nd\_n8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nd_n8)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2005, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisonous-spider/337144/24 "2005-12-28T20:31:04Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > [Chili size](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=349716). I see now, thanks. Ya know, that don’t sound half bad. ---
**Author:** ![Tenebrosus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/96bed5/32.png) [@Tenebrosus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenebrosus)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2005, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisonous-spider/337144/25 "2005-12-28T23:30:21Z")
> [@](#): > > I apologize for my incorrect assumption, it was based on your writing style No worries. You aren’t the first to say that I write like a man, and you probably won’t be the last. I should write SF books under a male pseudonym, ala James Tiptree, Jr., and see how long I can keep the secret 🙂 Not all harvestmen emit a odor, and the odor is different depending on the species. It’s quite possible the harvestman army that invaded your camping site didn’t emit one. Some of the odors are faintly pleasant, like those that emit a minty smell. The active ingredient in mosquito sprays (like OFF) is DEET. It’s effective, but pretty much outreeks anything else. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2005, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisonous-spider/337144/26 "2005-12-29T02:38:07Z")
**Tenebrosus** , you are most welcome at SDMB. I was about to post this in a separate thread, but while I have your attention: Are centipedes poisonous? We were invaded by three of these on Christmas Eve night. Maybe they came in with the firewood. Or maybe they just knew enough to come in out of the rain and sneak out from under the sofa. They were small ones – only a couple of inches long. It was worth it to see Poppa John in a frenzy to get the thing off of his leg. We live in Nashville if that information is helpful. ---
**Author:** ![Tenebrosus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/96bed5/32.png) [@Tenebrosus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenebrosus)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2005, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisonous-spider/337144/27 "2005-12-29T04:59:10Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > [ > > Are centipedes poisonous? I will have to check my books tomorrow, but I believe that all centipedes are venomous. I don’t know of any that cause problems for humans, other than the large centipedes can inflict a very painful bite. An interesting trivial tidbit: The last person to study centipedes died about 10 years ago. Which means that anyone who wants to study centipedes (which is in need of a revision), will almost have to start from scratch. Millipedes, which are not venomous (they are herbivores), are currently being revised by a couple of people who also study spiders. Petra Sierwald at the Chicago Museum of Natural History is one. ---
**Author:** ![Tenebrosus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/96bed5/32.png) [@Tenebrosus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenebrosus)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2005, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisonous-spider/337144/28 "2005-12-29T05:00:34Z")
Bah - I mean the Field museum in Chicago. In my tired state I confused her museum with the American museum of Natural History 😛 ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2005, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisonous-spider/337144/29 "2005-12-29T13:24:38Z")
**Zoe** , we’d really sort of kind of mostly like to keep separate questions in separate threads. It makes it easier for later readers to find. So, if you’d like to start a separate thread on centipedes (in the General Questions forum, please), and email me with the thread title and I’ll post a link. Call it administrative bookkeeping, but that way when someone searches for “centipedes” in the thread title in future, they’ll find it more easily. OK? ---
**Author:** ![nd\_n8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/439d5e/32.png) [@nd\_n8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nd_n8)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2005, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisonous-spider/337144/30 "2005-12-29T14:12:30Z")
> [@Tenebrosus](#): > > Not all harvestmen emit a odor, and the odor is different depending on the species. It’s quite possible the harvestman army that invaded your camping site didn’t emit one. Some of the odors are faintly pleasant, like those that emit a minty smell. Try Opiliones gum, now with 30% more legs!!! Mmmm…Legs!!! Look for original Mint and, coming soon, Cool Winter Fresh!!! Seriously though, thanks, 'twas interesting. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2005, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisonous-spider/337144/31 "2005-12-29T19:57:56Z")
Here’s a fixed version of Johnny L.A.'s link: [http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/spider/pholcus1.html](http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/spider/pholcus1.html) ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisonous-spider/337144/32 "2005-12-30T02:14:32Z")
Sorry, **Dex**. Just did a search on my next question about this “c-word” and it’s already been asked and answered in General Questions. Thanks for the reminder. ---
**Author:** ![esurfergrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/13edae/32.png) [@esurfergrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/esurfergrl)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2006, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisonous-spider/337144/33 "2006-01-22T07:03:39Z")
RE: your article on poisonous spiders. I was drawn like a fly…well …I read too much after stumbling across this thread on poisonous spiders and then accessed a few of the urls provided on various posts, including your [Spiderpharm.com](http://Spiderpharm.com). Nowhere on that site could I find an answer to my question of why on earth anyone would want to purchase spider venom? Now I am sure there are a few people that are studying venom, but it certainly cannot be sufficient numbers to support an entire business? Actually scary were the offers to sell live funnel web spiders, among the most deadly, if not the most deadly known spider, not currently considered a US specimen, but obviously alive, and for sale, very cheap in the AZ location of [Spiderpharm.com](http://Spiderpharm.com). there were allusions to hits, terminology I am only familiar in the context of illegal substances for recreational use. Are people taking spider venom for a high? A low? Just had to ask. Thanks. > [@Tenebrosus](#): > > I’m a biologist that happens to study spiders. I applaud your article for stating what arachnologists have said for years, namely that most bumps, red spots, etc. are likely NOT to be spider bites. In reality, there are more harmful biting insects than there are poisonous spiders. A few summers ago, I was collecting spiders at a field station when a fellow biology student visited a doctor about bad bite on her ear. Despite the fact that the black flies were vicious at that time, the doctor blamed a spider! > > But a colleague of mine, a spider toxicologist, has an issue with one of your statements. I quote him here : > > Fighting BS with BS: > > “Of the handful of dangerous species, nearly all have venom that either kills you within a matter of hours or completely goes away within the same period.” > > Sounds like another myth in the making … > > If you wish to discuss this point, he can be contacted at [www.spiderpharm.com](http://www.spiderpharm.com). Chuck is one of the top men in spider toxins. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2006, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisonous-spider/337144/34 "2006-01-24T20:15:02Z")
> [@esurfergrl](#): > > why on earth anyone would want to purchase spider venom? It’s the key ingredient in the oh-so-tasty vodka cocktail, the Oogy Mary. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2006, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisonous-spider/337144/35 "2006-01-24T20:47:00Z")
well, the common funnel web is not the sidney funnelweb [http://www.everythingabout.net/articles/biology/animals/arthropods/arachnids/spiders/funnelweb\_spider/](http://www.everythingabout.net/articles/biology/animals/arthropods/arachnids/spiders/funnelweb_spider/) and this from the spiderpharm page: The business was started in the early 1980s with a simple directive: Promote the exploration of spider venoms by making a wider variety of the venoms available to laboratories with diverse interests. Very few spider venoms were being studied at that and most of these were only available from researchers who had developed their own sources. and Reminder:Venoms and other bioactive preparations are not shipped to individuals. so I guess there is enough demand 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2006, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisonous-spider/337144/36 "2006-01-24T22:56:08Z")
> [@](#): > > Not all harvestmen emit a odor, and the odor is different depending on the species. It’s quite possible the harvestman army that invaded your camping site didn’t emit one. Some of the odors are faintly pleasant, like those that emit a minty smell. Second-hand information, here, but buddies of mine in Boy Scouts reported that our local (northeast Ohio) Daddy-Long-Legs tasted like peppermint. I never tasted one, though, and I never noticed an airborne odor, either. Incidentally, we never called them anything but Daddy-Long-Legs, we knew they were not true spiders, and the myth that they were venomous never reached us. I guess we were doing pretty well on our Opiliones knowledge. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Roboto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/76d3ee/32.png) [@Mr.Roboto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Roboto)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2006, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisonous-spider/337144/37 "2006-02-03T18:18:28Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > **Tenebrosus** , you are most welcome at SDMB. I was about to post this in a separate thread, but while I have your attention: > > Are centipedes poisonous? > > We were invaded by three of these on Christmas Eve night. Maybe they came in with the firewood. Or maybe they just knew enough to come in out of the rain and sneak out from under the sofa. They were small ones – only a couple of inches long. > > It was worth it to see Poppa John in a frenzy to get the thing off of his leg. > > We live in Nashville if that information is helpful. I once owned a Doberman who was a loyal and wonderful dog. Early in her life she developed cancer which required a section of her back right-leg to be excised. Late one evening, while reclining in an easy-chair with my dobie sleeping next to me and only the light of the television in my frontroom, my Doberman violently arose and shook her head. Through the light of the television, I saw something swirling through the air which I initially though was drool. When this hit the carpet in front of the television, it quickly ran under the armoir. In my horror, I found a very large Centipede which I killed and discarded outside Three days later, my dog died. This creature had enough poison to kill an eighty pound animal. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2006, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisonous-spider/337144/38 "2006-02-03T20:33:44Z")
Um, no disrespect to you or to your poor dog, but what makes you say the dog died from centipede poison? ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisonous-spider/337144/39 "2006-02-04T15:22:23Z")
**Tenebrosus** , I’d also like to welcome your clear writing, detailed knowledge and thoughtful insights. And, 'fess up that I also assumed you were a man, based not so much on writing style as on a stereotype about the “hard” sciences. I’m glad to find that there are so many female scientists working in the field. I considered entomology myself in my youth, but was held back by an irrational squeamishness. (Centipedes, for instance, creep me out ten times as much as spiders do. I’ve actually killed one with a sword to avoid getting any closer to it.) I’ve also had the experience of having dozens of daddy-long-legs on my tent; maybe they like the moisture on the fabric in the early morning. Happens every time I go to Lake Tobesofkee in Georgia. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Roboto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/76d3ee/32.png) [@Mr.Roboto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Roboto)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisonous-spider/337144/40 "2006-02-04T17:42:39Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Um, no disrespect to you or to your poor dog, but what makes you say the dog died from centipede poison? My Dog was fine until the bite…The effect on her was gradually slow until she died. years earlier, like I pointed out, she had cancer which was removed. maybe the bite aggravted cancer cells, I don’t know. It was a big Centipede. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisonous-spider/337144.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisonous-spider/337144.md?page=3)