What’s the Truth Behind Daddy-Longlegs?

What’s the Truth Behind Daddy-Longlegs?

Daddy-longlegs have made quite the name for themselves over the years. There’s even a tale that they are the most poisonous bugs on Earth and could kill us if their mouths were big enough! Thankfully, that is not true and we will discuss why in a little bit. But for now, it is worth wondering: what are these creepy spider-lookalikes? And what purpose do they even serve?

The Order Opiliones

As you may already know, daddy-longlegs are not technically spiders. They are arachnids like spiders, but they are not the same by definition. They actually have their own Order: Opiliones. They go by a few different names, including daddy-longlegs, harvestmen, and opilionids. Daddy-longlegs are different in appearance alone, as they just have one body segment and two eyes at most. They do have eight legs, like spiders, and two of the legs are used like antennae to sense and feel. The legs are also clearly long and flexible, allowing them to fit in tight spaces. Their mouth is like that of a crab or a scorpion, in that it has the ability to break apart organic matter and chew various foods, including insects. Their chelicerae, or front claws, are capable of biting humans; they just don’t usually like biting us, thankfully. Daddy-longlegs do not produce silk because they don’t have spinnerets, which is what spiders use to spin their webs. So the harvestmen have to settle for walking everywhere and finding corners to hide in, waiting for their next meal. 

Female daddy-longlegs lay eggs like a spider does, but she does not have the luxury of using a web as a home. This is why the eggs are laid in soil, cracks, or under stones. The eggs are laid in the fall and hatch in the spring, which is why we tend to see a lot more daddy-longlegs in the summer. The main visual differences between the males and females are in their structures; males have smaller bodies with longer legs, while females are larger only in their bodies. Both sexes can live one to two years, depending on the climate and environment. Daddy-longlegs in the southern region of the country can overwinter, meaning they can survive the harsh winters and live to see another spring. 

The daddy-longlegs is often mistaken for the confusingly-named daddy-longlegs spider, which is an actual spider. These spiders are part of the Order Araneae, and the Family is Pholcidae. These spiders go by a few other popular names, including cellar spider and carpenter spider. The best way to tell these apart from the actual daddy-longlegs is by looking at the body. The spiders have two body segments, while opilionids have one. The spiders can also spin webs due to their spinnerets, so that is another key difference. 

Myth: Daddy-Longlegs are Full of Venom

As mentioned before, the most popular “fact” about daddy-longlegs that many of us heard as kids is actually a myth. Some people say that these arachnids have extremely dangerous venom, and the only reason they don’t kill us is simply because their mouths are too small. But none of this is true at all, so it’s strange that this became a circulating rumor about the arachnids. Daddy-longlegs don’t have fangs, venom, or anything that would render them poisonous to anyone. Their main defense against predators is their ability to produce an odor that causes their enemies to think twice about eating them. But this is not even lethal to predators, so daddy-longlegs don’t really have a solid defense against them. That is, unless you count their ability to willingly lose legs and survive.

Autotomy

Yes, daddy-longlegs, the arachnids known for their creepily-long legs, can lose them and be completely fine. They are capable of autotomy, the optional release of a body part, and they take advantage of it quite often. Daddy-longlegs survive attacks by simply losing the legs that are caught by a predator and making their escape. It doesn’t seem to hurt them to lose legs, but since they can’t fly or spin webs, it is important that they do not lose too many legs so they can still make a quick getaway. It is also a great defensive maneuver for female daddy-longlegs. If she does not want to mate with a persistent male, she can just rip his leg off. He will then hopefully get the message and leave her alone for the time being.

There are a couple of entertaining movements that daddy-longlegs do after they lose legs and need to get around in a different way. One is called stotting. This is where the opilionid bounces its body on the ground with every step, reminiscent of a bouncing basketball. But when a daddy-longlegs loses two legs, it resorts to bobbing. This movement is when the vertical movement is overemphasized and they have to continue bouncing their bodies to move. On the bright side, these movements cause them to be more difficult to catch or eat, since they are more erratic and flexible. 

Habitat

Daddy-longlegs are interesting in that they can live in one extreme climate or another. They like moisture and environments with consistent water supply (hence why we find them in the bathtub), but they also like the desert and its dry heat. So no place is really safe from these arachnids. But that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, since they are harmless to humans and actually want nothing to do with us. 

In the more populated areas, daddy-longlegs like to live in sheltered, cool places that provide more opportunities for food and nesting. These places include trees, eaves, windows, and unfinished rooms like basements. They often find their way into our bathrooms because of the moisture and humidity. One creepy habit of harvestmen is gathering in clusters, where they group tightly together and keep each other humid so that their legs don’t dry out too much. They mainly do this in the fall when the humidity rapidly drops. This also helps with protection, as there is strength in numbers. The clusters look like large clumps of hair on the side of a building, since they let their legs dangle and the long legs have a hairlike appearance from afar. 

Individual daddy-longlegs don’t require pest control due to their harmless and docile nature, but clusters of them may warrant some concern over the icky appearance. If you are feeling brave, it is easy to dispatch a daddy-longlegs with a broom or vacuum, so it could be worth a try to get rid of clusters. But pest control may be a better option if the creepy cluster is too much to bear.

Beneficial Opilionids

Daddy-longlegs are beneficial, meaning that they eat pests that would otherwise be annoying us. They eat a wide variety of things, and have to hunt for their food since they can’t catch them in a web. Harvestmen’s favorite meals tend to be dead insects, aphids, bird droppings, animal matter, and decomposing vegetables. Their chelicerae allow them to eat things that many insects cannot, so they are able to gain a lot of nutrients from their diet. 

Give Spiders the Boot

Although daddy-longlegs are beneficial and completely harmless to humans, their similar-looking friends, the spiders, can be a big problem if they are not addressed. Contact our team today to find out how we can help with any arachnid problem and make sure that no one with eight legs is living under your roof. 

Citations

Daddy-longlegs. (n.d.). UC Riverside: Spider Research. Retrieved on March 14, 2022, from https://spiders.ucr.edu/daddy-long-legs 

Kennerson, E. (2017, August 27). Daddy longlegs risk life, and especially limb, to survive. PBS. Available at https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/daddy-longlegs-risk-life-especially-limb-survive (Accessed on March 14, 2022). 

Kusmer, A. (2018, November 1). Why does it look like this national park building in Alaska is sprouting hair?. Atlas Obscura. Available at https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/why-do-daddy-longlegs-cluster-together (Accessed on March 15, 2022).

Oswalt, D., Benson, E., & Zungoli, P. (2004, October 6). Daddy-longlegs. Clemson Cooperative Extension: Home & Garden Information Center. Available at https://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheet/daddy-longlegs/ (Accessed on March 14, 2022).