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Are grand daddy long legs poisonous?

In: Spiders
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No, Daddy long legs are in no way poisonous and are completely harmless.

There is, however, a myth about these creatures being the most venomous of spiders, but its jaws are too small to bite, however this is a complete fallacy, as none of these species have venom glands or fangs. They are completely harmless and are not poisonous.

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The above answer is not true, they can bite. They do have venom glands and the "daddy long legs or grand daddy long legs" actually called pholcid spiders do have a short fang structure called uncate. Brown recluse spiders also have uncate fang structure, but are able to deliver medically significant bites.

In 2004, the Discovery Channel show MythBusters set out to test the daddy long-legs myth (season 1, episode 13 "Buried in Concrete"). After measuring the phlocid spider's fangs at approximately 0.25 mm (average human skin thickness varies from about 0.5mm to 4mm), the show's host was apparently bitten, although the bite produced little more than a mild short-lived burning sensation. This appears to confirm the suspicion that pholcids can penetrate human skin, but that their venom is harmless to humans.

Additionally, recent research by Alan Van Dyke has shown that pholcid venom is actually relatively weak in its effects on insects as well.

According to the University of California at Riverside, the daddy long-legs spider has never harmed a human and there is no proof that they are poisonous to humans



The common name 'daddy longlegs' can refer to 3 completely different species depending on your culture. One is the harvestmen (North America - not a true spider), another is the Pholcidae spider (Australia & NZ - actual spider), and the other is the Crane Fly (UK - insect). The 'daddy longlegs' shown on Myth Busters was the Pholcidae spider. The myth that 'daddy longlegs are poisonous' only applys to the Pholcidae spider, so don't get confused when talking about it in conversation.

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First answer by ID1207045926. Last edit by Atrumentis. Contributor trust: 0 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 17 [recommend question]

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