MadSci Network: General Biology
Query:

Re: What does a daddy long legs spider eat?

Date: Mon Oct 15 10:18:25 2001
Posted By: Ruth Allard, Conservation Biologist, American Zoo and Aquarium Association
Area of science: General Biology
ID: 1003090563.Gb
Message:

Hi Muriel,

Your question is a little tricky, because "daddy long legs" is a common 
name that refers to several different critters.  Some things people 
call "daddy long legs" are actually spiders, while others are spider 
relatives.  They're all arachnids, but some are true spiders and others 
aren't.  So the first question is, which critter do you mean?  

From the looks of things in my Web search on daddy longlegs, there are 
three different types of beasts that get lumped together under the 
name "daddy long legs".  One is the harvestman, which is an arachnid but 
not a spider, one is the crane fly (an insect), and the other is any one 
of a group of spiders called pholcid spiders (all arachnids).  They're all 
called daddy longlegs due to their long, delicate legs.  I'm still working 
on how to tell them apart. 

According to Encyclopedia.com, harvestmen eat "a variety of organic 
materials, including fluids from fruits and vegetation, animal tissue, and 
even other harvestmen."  (check out Encyclopedia.com and search 
for "harvestman")

Crane flies eat plant matter and like wet spots (information also courtesy 
of Encyclopedia.com).  You can distinguish crane flies from the other 
things you might call daddy longlegs, because crane flies have little 
wings.  Sometimes the beasties are too far away to tell, but that's one 
hint.

The pholcids, or "daddy longlegs spiders" (the true spiders of the three) 
that we have in the US are actually from Europe, although there are 
pholcid spiders in many parts of the world.  The ones living in the US are 
commonly found in cellars.  After a fair amount of searching, I did not 
uncover any information about what these guys eat.  I did find a site with 
great photos of pholcid spiders and some more background information, 
including info on whether or not daddy longlegs bite.  The complete answer 
is a bit complicated, but the short answer is don't worry about them.

Check out http://spiders.ucr.edu/dad
dylonglegs.html
for photos and more info.

I hope this helps -- keep asking questions!



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