I have a friendly bunch of spiders...yes?When my hubby found these guys, it got me wondering about Daddy Long Legs. First off I have to tell you that these guys are not actually spiders. They are in the arachnid family, but are only related to spiders like scorpions and ticks are. (I had no idea!)
In investigating why Daddy Long legs aggregate in large numbers...the answer was...no one knows why for sure. None of the reasons listed were for mating, which was what I thought when I saw this outside my front door. (There are 5 pictured, 2 skeedaddled while I went to get the camera)
There are over 7,000 kinds of Daddy long legs around the world!
I don't usually shoo these guys away from the door, because they don't make messy webs. I did find out, that in fact they don't make webs at all. The Daddys will eat almost anything, but prefer animal matter. Some species prey on small insects, snails, and worms.
Daddy Long Legs 'legs' can twitch for up to an hour after becoming detached. There are pacemakers in the ends of their legs. The twitching is used as a get away tactic, keeping the predator busy, while the Daddy hopefully gets away. (I won't be doing any field testing of my own)
Lastly, I found out that they stink when you smell them up close. Really? (I think I'll just take the experts word on that as well)
6 comments:
Very interesting. I've seen daddy long-legs before and I didn't know that about them.
We get the daddy long-leg spiders here, tons of them. They are very common here. I have them all over my house and they are all over my porch. They do make messy webs, but I try to live with them the best I can. Besides, they eat other bugs that I don't like, like flies and moths.
Oh my God, I am not as bad about long legged things as I used to be but that photo...eechh. Irrational, I know.
I've never seen them do that before...how strange...I did not most of the other tidbits you posted and am glad you mentioned that they are not actually spiders.
The Daddys were at it again today. A big ol cluster in just about the same spot. I haven't moved them along yet, but I might if they are still there tomorrow. I want to move them only because they are right next to the door handle. It is a strange sight.
That was interesting. I didn't know all that about those Daddy's. but i always thought they were good guys and maybe brought good luck to your home.
Awesome! I love reading stuff like that and learning something interesting. thanks!
Post a Comment