Of the thousands of spider species in the world, only two small families do not produce venom, according to Burke Museum. The cellar spiders we call daddy long legs do produce venom. Now that we've settled the matter of what exactly a daddy long legs is, we can focus on whether they are venomous and whether that venom is harmful. On the first matter, the answer is yes. When they aren't taking up residence in our basements, attics and dark corners, they can be found in quiet, dark places, including caves, burrows and crevices. There are hundreds of cellar spiders in the world, and humans are often quite familiar with them because some species are commonly found indoors, including in our houses, according to the University of Michigan. These spiders belong to the Pholcidae family of spiders and are also known as cellar spiders. The spiders that people refer to as daddy long legs are pholcid spiders, according to Burke Museum.

In addition, harvestmen have only one body part, while spiders have two. They also don't have silk glands like spiders do, and they only have two eyes, compared with the eight eyes most spiders have. First, they lack venom, which virtually all spiders have, according to the Missouri Department of Conservation. Harvestmen are spiderlike creatures, but they are not spiders for a few reasons. Among these so-called daddy long legs are crane flies, which are flies that look like large mosquitoes, and harvestmen, which are arachnids, but not spiders. On the first question, the answer is a somewhat complicated because daddy long legs is a generic term that people use to describe many different long-legged creatures. Next, we have to talk about whether daddy long legs spiders are venomous, and if they are, how venomous they are.

First, there's the question of what is a daddy long legs. It's a myth that's been circulating for generations, but there is no truth to it.īreaking down this misinformation has to be done in a few steps. Did you learn as a kid that you're only safe from the harmful venom of daddy long leg spiders because they don't have fangs long enough or sharp enough to break through human skin? That if they could bite, their bite would be deadly? If you grew up thinking this, you are far from alone.

Long bodied cellar spiders poisonous