I’m gonna be honest.
I’ve used the term to refer to both Pholcidae, and crane fly.
I didn’t even realize they weren’t the same, I didn’t count the legs. I was really confused why sometimes it made a web and someone it had wings. The wings made me doubt it was a spider… But now it turns out it’s just two similar ass bugs, and I should have paid closer attention.
Edit: opinions to Opiliones
Edit 2: Opiliones to Pholcidae. Pasted the wrong text fml
If you want to get really pedantic, none of the three completely different arthropods commonly called daddy longlegs are true bugs. True bugs are the order Hemiptera while crane flies are in Diptera and cellar spiders and harvestmen aren’t insects at all.
Also, Opiliones don’t produce silk and don’t make webs, but Pholcidae do.
Those aren’t spiders. They have 6 legs.
I think It’s actually regional what species the name “Daddy Long Legs” refers to.
Craneflies over here (UK). Is it harvestmen what other countries call daddy long legs?
Yes.
They are spiders? What animal are you referring to?
Is it not
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pholcidae?wprov=sfla1
Could also be https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opiliones?useskin=vector which aren’t spiders but still are arachnids and have 8 legs, or even https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crane_fly?useskin=vector which are not arachnids at all, but insects and have 6 legs. All 3 different groups are called daddy longlegs.
I’m gonna be honest. I’ve used the term to refer to both Pholcidae, and crane fly. I didn’t even realize they weren’t the same, I didn’t count the legs. I was really confused why sometimes it made a web and someone it had wings. The wings made me doubt it was a spider… But now it turns out it’s just two similar ass bugs, and I should have paid closer attention.
Edit: opinions to Opiliones
Edit 2: Opiliones to Pholcidae. Pasted the wrong text fml
If you want to get really pedantic, none of the three completely different arthropods commonly called daddy longlegs are true bugs. True bugs are the order Hemiptera while crane flies are in Diptera and cellar spiders and harvestmen aren’t insects at all.
Also, Opiliones don’t produce silk and don’t make webs, but Pholcidae do.
I meant Pholcidae not Opiliones, too many tabs open and I didn’t look at the pic when I referenced the tab to get the name. 🤦
8 legs, 2 pairs of mouthparts
Once I learned that the two front “legs” are actually feelers, this became one of my favorite pieces of trivia.
#gatekeeping