Facts About Daddy-Long-Legs Spiders

Daddy long-legs spiders are known for their distinct appearance with their thin, long legs. They are part of the Arachnida class and a member of the Pholcidae family. Daddy long-legs spiders are commonly called "cellar spiders" and are a harmless specimen, although myths have been perpetuated that say otherwise.

  1. Appearance

    • Daddy long-legs spiders are typically easy to differentiate from other spiders because of their unique appearance. Daddy long-legs spiders are very fragile and delicate. Their body, usually brown or gray in color, is cylindrical in shape while their legs are very long and thin. This specimen has either 6 or 8 eyes which arranged in two lateral groups of three, with two smaller eyes underneath. Daddy long-legs spiders can range in size from 2 to 10 mm in length. Their legs can sometimes grow to be up to 50 mm long.

    Food

    • Daddy long-legs spiders survive on a small variety of prey to survive. Sometimes they will hunt the Tegenaria spider species. Other times, they attack and eat Redback spiders and Huntsman spiders. On occasion daddy long-legs spiders will invade other spiders' webs and consume the host, their eggs or any prey caught in the web. Sometimes daddy long-legs spiders may act like a trapped insect themselves to trick a host spider to reveal himself so the daddy long-legs spider can eat it.

    Habitat

    • Dark, damp places are usually the best places for daddy long-legs spiders to create their webs. This is why daddy long-legs spiders are usual drawn to places like caves, abandoned animal burrows or home cellars. Because of this, they are often known as cellar spiders. Daddy long-legs spiders can be found all over the world. Their webs can be distinguished by the irregular, messy and tangled shapes they are weaved in.

    Miscellaneous

    • Daddy long-legs spiders hang upside down from their webs. The typical lifespan of one of these spiders is usually about one year. They are venomous, but as far as anyone knows, they are not harmful to humans. This is because their fangs are short and daddy long-legs spiders do not have strong enough muscles to be able to penetrate human skin.