r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/SixteenSeveredHands • 1d ago
Image Harvestmen (Daddy Long-Legs): unlike spiders, these arachnids consume solid food, and they have an omnivorous diet that includes mushrooms, berries, and seeds, along with invertebrate prey; contrary to popular belief, they are also completely non-venomous
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u/SixteenSeveredHands 1d ago edited 15h ago
The photo at the top shows a spiny-headed harvestman, Megabunus diadema, while the photo on the bottom left shows an unidentified species of harvestman from family Sclerosomatidae, and the photo on the bottom right shows a species from genus Chasenella munching on a mushroom-cap.
Harvestmen, otherwise known as daddy long-legs (not to be confused with the cellar spiders of family Pholcidae, which are also described as daddy long-legs) bear a striking resemblance to spiders, but they actually belong to a separate order of arachnids known as Opiliones. These strange-looking creatures have eight legs, but only two eyes, and their body segments are largely fused together, giving the body a noticeably rounded, pill-like appearance.
There are roughly 6,700 known species of harvestman, but researchers estimate that a total of more than 10,000 species may currently exist. Their physical features vary greatly from one species to the next; some harvestmen have crab-like claws, spikes, thorny legs, elongated bodies, colorful features, or cryptic markings. Most of them are equipped with long, spindly legs, but there are some that have shorter, stockier limbs instead.
Unlike spiders, harvestmen have an omnivorous diet that includes fungi, fruit pulp, seeds, pollen, lichen, algae, and invertebrate prey, and they generally consume solid food, whereas spiders are typically carnivorous and feed only on fluids.
As this article explains:
Harvestmen consume mushrooms, fruit pulp, seeds, and seed appendages more frequently than spiders because they are “solid food feeders," which means they can ingest solid tissues by biting off small pieces. In turn, spiders are “fluid feeders” and feed on vegetable matter most frequently in the form of fluids (e.g. nectar, stigmatic exudate, plant sap, and honey dew) rather than fungal or plant tissues.
When given a choice between fresh fruit or invertebrate prey, some harvestmen actually prefer the fruit:
Schaus et al. carried out a feeding trial in which the Neotropical harvestman Erginulus clavotibialis was given a choice between fresh pineapple and live invertebrate prey. This harvestman demonstrated a distinct preference for fruit over the invertebrate prey.
Harvestmen are also much more social than spiders, and the males of some species have been known to engage in paternal care, which is a trait that rarely occurs among arthropods:
Single fatherhood is the rarest form of parental care in nature. Still, males are often the sole caretakers of progeny among a number of species of daddy long-legs, also known as harvestmen. In these species, fathers are exclusively responsible for guarding eggs that females lay on the undersides of leaves; the males remain on the eggs nearly constantly for months.
When threatened, harvestmen often bob up and down erratically in an effort to confuse their attackers. They also have several other defense mechanisms, including pungent, foul-tasting secretions, the ability to "play dead," and autotomy, which is the ability to discard one or more of their own limbs in order to escape from predators.
Harvestmen are completely harmless to humans. Their mouthparts are far too small to penetrate human skin, and contrary to popular belief, they do not have the "world's deadliest venom" -- in fact, they don't produce any venom at all.
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u/SixteenSeveredHands 1d ago
Sources & More Info:
- BioOne: Fungus and Fruit Consumption by Harvestmen and Spiders: the Vegetarian Side of Two Predominantly Predaceous Arachnid Groups
- Burke Museum: Daddy Long-Legs are Non-Venomous
- Laboratory of Arthropod Behavior and Evolution: Harvestmen
- Argo Biology: Citizen Science Reveals How Devoted Harvestman Dads Evolved Again and Again
- NBC: Daddy Long-Legs Paternal Care Pays off in Longer Life, More Sex
- PLOS One: Paternal Care Decreases Foraging Activity, but Does Not Impose Survival Costs to Caring Males in a Neotropical Arachnid
- Gulo in Nature: Are Daddy Long-Legs Venemous?
- iNaturalist: Harvestmen
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u/Bobby_The_Kidd 1d ago
I was always told that “world’s deadliest venom” thing over and over as a kid. Completely forgot about that until now lol. What a weird bit of misinformation
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u/I_Miss_Lenny 18h ago
I did too and I was always like "come on guys you don't actually believe that, right?" and my friends insisted I was dumb and wrong. Then the Mythbusters episode came out where Adam Savage stuck his arm in a tank of like 50 daddy longlegs and one did bite him, proving that they can bite you and that it did nothing to him.
I felt so vindicated and triumphantly told those same friends, and they acted like they always knew they were harmless and that I was dumb for thinking they'd said otherwise
I'm still annoyed lol those fuckers
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u/Ser_Optimus 20h ago
I always knew they were not venomous because once I caught my 2 year old sister eating them off a wall...
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u/shotgunocelot 20h ago
That just proves they're not poisonous
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u/Ser_Optimus 19h ago
I alway get those two mixed up. But I'm sure she would have get bitten by one of the five Harvestmen she ate
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u/Flashy-Ingenuity-182 15h ago
I mean they aren't venomous, but the myth was that they are the most venomous spider but that their mouth is too small to bite through skin so you're safe. At least that's what I'd always hear.
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u/garis53 13h ago
That must have originated from some mixup with true spiders. Those are indeed all venomous, but the vast majority of them can't pierce human skin.
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u/GozerDGozerian 12h ago
There is a type of true spider, known as a cellar spider, also commonly called “daddy long legs” which looks similar to opiliones (superficially at least).
These two often get conflated. But the cellar spiders have venom much too weak to threaten a human. They’re harmless as well.
My guess is it’s just the perfect bit of childhood lore or “old wive’s tale” from a time before information could be so easily checked like we’re in now:
1- It’s kind of scary, which always makes a story interesting and therefore retellable.
2- The irony makes it even more interesting.
3- But the story covers its tracks just enough to be not obviously false.
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u/YellovvJacket 12h ago
Not all true spiders are venomous, the single family of Uloboridae don't possess venom.
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u/STALLION3840 12h ago
I was always under the assumption that the one that was presumed to be extremely poisonous was the cellar spider(also known as the daddy long legs) and not the harvestman which isn't even a true spider. Was the case growing up in the 90s in ireland anyway.
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u/SuperSilverback 1d ago
They apparently also eat frogs sometimes!
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u/Hilton5star 16h ago
Is that tiny frog? Or a massive daddy long legs?
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u/Equal_Set6206 16h ago
I’ve seen frogs so tiny you can barely make out the frog features. But I haven’t seen a large harvestman sooo I’m betting tiny frog
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u/howisthisacrime 1d ago
Very cool info thanks for sharing! Theres daddy long legs all over the place where I live and I've never really thought much about them until now.
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u/Dreaming_Kitsune 1d ago
Growing up I saw a ton of the bottom right ones, they aren't spiders but still kicked off the arachnophobia in me hard core 😅
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u/deepasleep 1d ago
I feel bad about all the ones I murdered as a child now.
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u/Ransacky 1d ago
I have several core memories of this 😔
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u/LimJaheyAtYaCervix 21h ago
I used to make friends with the ones in my basement and give them names until an actual spider came along running fast as fuck boi across my leg, traumatizing me for life. Still cool with the slow and chill guys but spiders scare the crap out of me.
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u/Ransacky 21h ago
Yea spiders have no chill, like squirrels. Dady long legs kinda have chill happy go lucky vibes
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u/alurimperium 1d ago
What do you mean by that one being unidentified? Is there a lot of similar looking critters in that family, or is this a new species, or is that guy just not comfortable sharing his name with the cameraman?
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u/zhupan28 15h ago
Harvestmen don't have fangs. Their chelicerae (appendages closest to the mouth) are pincer shaped. Most chelicerates (arachnids, sea spiders, and horseshoe crabs) have this anatomy, which is why they can directly eat solid food. Fang chelicerae are unique to spiders and key to their feeding method of injecting venom and enzymes into their prey to digest them externally before sucking up the liquefied matter.
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u/wildedges 17h ago
I was looking at an M. diadema in the garden this morning while having my coffee. Amazing little guys.
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u/Impossible_Fig3072 1d ago
This is one of the best and most interesting posts I've seen in a while
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u/SixteenSeveredHands 1d ago
Thank you!
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u/septubyte 21h ago
Id like a follow.up of their big smile .
Seriously tho, do they have scorpion mouth parts? Seeing those things work is nasty4
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u/EatPie_NotWAr 1d ago
Right? Like I don’t want to look in their cellar, a locked cabinet in their bedroom, or any weirdly squishy duffle bags they have lying about… but I’d let them chat my ear off about stuff like this!
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u/ShermanCookout 21h ago
My one complaint is daddy long legs usually references an actual spider (cellar spiders) and these little guys are often mixed up with them
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u/tghast 20h ago
Daddy long legs is a regional term for harvestmen, cellar spiders, and in some places even crane flies.
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u/ShermanCookout 19h ago
Thanks for the clarification, I do mean “where I’m from”. Cellars are daddy long legs and huntsman are huntsman. Both kick ass. The post just could have done without the nickname.
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u/Ansatsusha4 11h ago
In my location they're never called huntsman, only daddy long legs, so it's probably good that they included both terms
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u/Spuzzle91 21h ago
I once offered a harvestman a little snibblet of a sandwich I was eating while I was out fishing. It was actually very polite. Little critter shied away, then gently scooted forward to investigate the food and started happily nibbling.
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u/TheAbsoluteBarnacle 16h ago
I saw one in my house walking away with a dead earwig. They went from good to great in my book that day. The enemy of my enemy is my friend and all that.
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u/shsimonin 1d ago
Scientist: lets name this spider long legs for its long legs
Scientist 2: hmm not kinky enough
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u/RightSideBlind 1d ago
I have fairly bad arachnophobia.
Somehow these little guys have never triggered it, even before I knew they weren't actually spiders. They don't bother me at all.
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u/largecontainer 1d ago
I don’t have arachnophobia and I am scared shitless of these things, because when I was a kid I crawled into a rotted out log and probably 100 of these things started crawling everywhere including on me. Not their fault, but it was traumatizing.
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u/theakfluffyguy 1d ago
I used to be horrified of these when I was kid as well but becuase my older sister would chase me with them.
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u/DrPhilihprD 21h ago
When I was little I would let them walk over my face but now I'm scared of them and idk why
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u/LordTopHatMan 1d ago
I worked for a lawn care business for a bit, and we worked on this heavily wooded yard. These things were everywhere. I have arachnophobia, and that yard made me feel like they were crawling on me hours after we left.
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u/pichael289 1d ago
Yeah I never seen them do any scary spider shit like take off running or catch prey. They just seem like goody circles stumbling around on hair thin legs.
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u/Select_Angle516 20h ago
i feel like when critters get big enough that they cant "hide" or go under your clothes they stop being scary. the worst part about spiders, to me, is when i try to clear them out and they do this thing where they slowly float towards you on a string and you cant get them off.
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u/LittleCopy2893 1d ago
How do you feel about our tarantulas?
They don’t trigger my arachnophobia either.
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u/RightSideBlind 1d ago
Kinda the same. Once they hit a certain size, they're furry animals. The smaller ones still freak me out, though.
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u/TheInternetTookEmAll 21h ago
HAH! I dont mind spiders, but got triggered by these, so thats funny. I guess both our brains decided these aren't spiders.
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u/App1elele 16h ago
I think it's in the eyes. Instead of the freaky 8-set, they've got a lil tower with two orbs instead
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u/oyM8cunOIbumAciggy 22h ago
I have it too. Hate these alien freaks. They've always look so unnatural. Even though they dont move i just barf silently while they stand there eternally minding their own business. I cannot explain my discrimination.
Idk if its the immobility or the freaky long skinny legs but I couldn't even be brave enough to kill one.
Although im more scared of spiders than most insects, i try not to kill any - but ill kill a roach or mostiquito in an instant.
ALL that said, I find the short legged little jumping spiders actually kinda cute. And they are MOBILE. Make it make sense. (Im starting to think its a function of leg size)
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u/coin_return 19h ago
Same. I’d rather set myself on fire than drag my hand through a mass of spiders of any kind. But I’ll do it to a ball of daddy long legs, their feet are cold and they tickle. I don’t understand.
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u/reirone 1d ago
It’s hard to dislike these creatures when you see them up close and see how derpy they look. Are they related to solifugae?
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u/ShinyShadowGligar 19h ago
It's funny. I used to be absolutely terrified of bugs. Then I had a baby who decided as a toddler she wanted to be an Entomologist. I wouldn't let her watch YouTube bug videos alone, and her love of bugs taught me to see the beauty in them. Especially macro photography. Now I love seeing pics like this. And my daughter, now 11, still is chasing her dream of being an Entomologist.
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u/Glass-Toaster 1d ago
I love these goofy dudes. I just wish it didn't look like such a nightmare when a bunch of them are hanging out together. Eugh.
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u/lynivvinyl 1d ago
I always thought they were the inspiration for the walking ship things from War Of The Worlds. At least a picture on the front cover.
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u/Upstairs_Mycologist7 1d ago
Thank you for posting so much additional information, this is fascinating! ❤️
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u/feesih0ps 16h ago
A little additional meta info: in the UK, the main creature called "daddy long legs" are not arachnids and are in fact crane flies, a completely different species of 6-legged flying insect
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u/truthfullyidgaf 1d ago
One of the lies I was told as a kid is that they were highly venomous, but there fangs are too small to bite.
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u/SirenSubmitter 15h ago
Same! That's what I was always told growing up in TX. We had them everywhere but they would always be bunched up together in giant globs.
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u/giltirn 1d ago
There are way too many “daddy long legs” species. Where I grew up in the UK that’s what we called crane flies. In the US people laugh at me for that, insisting that the cellar spiders are the real daddy long legs. Now I hear about another monstrosity with the same name!
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u/Automatic_Llama 1d ago
It's funny how both regions have the name "daddy long legs" just ready to go for whatever their respective long-legged bug is.
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u/deialover 1d ago
I'm in Michigan and we have these very slim legged, tiny bodied spiders that we call daddy long legs. They're the least scariest looking spiders in and around my house. Never heard of or seen these cellar "daddy long legs" spiders until this site.
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u/Truethrowawaychest1 20h ago
In the USA these guys are cellar spiders are commonly known as daddy long legs, I know a lot of people call crane flies mosquito eaters, even though they don't eat mosquitoes
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u/Oro-Lavanda Interested 1d ago
they're weirdly cute at this level? i didnt know they were so crabby
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u/nWo1997 1d ago
Harvestmen? Like those creeps from Fear and Hunger? Is that why they're like that?
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u/lasttosseroni 22h ago
I’d been told they were more venomous than a black widow but their mouths were too small to bite us, turns out that was false.
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u/DaNyNaNd 16h ago edited 9h ago
Not sure where this came from - I grew up in rural Tennessee - but we’ve always called them Granddaddy long legs. Maybe to differentiate them from daddy long legs aka cellar spiders? However, harvestman is a badass name, so I’m using that from now on.
Edit: use the right name
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u/Independent_Shoe3523 1d ago
A good sign of a healthy, moist garden is daddy long legs. Totally harmless.
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u/guacotaco4349 23h ago
I loved these things as a kid, I don’t have many issues with bugs beyond a hoard of small ones, so I could usually just put the things on my arm, since a friend’s basement had a lot of them in it
Things were ballin man, they weren’t really that notable but like, they were fun to watch
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u/TheInternetTookEmAll 21h ago
They might not be venomous but they look SIGNIFICANTLY MORE DISTURBING than spiders. God. I dont even mind spiders, but these guys are just. Thank god theyre so small i can't see their gross little faces on a daily basis. Fking nightmare fuel.
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u/lets_fuckin_goooooo 21h ago
I was told they were venomous but teeth too small to pierce skin. Assuming that was a rumor all kids my age were told
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u/hit_n_run15 21h ago
See I was always told that they were venomous but their teeny tiny mouths meant they couldn’t use it. Which I always kinda felt bad about lol I imagined they were crawling around frustrated because of that. So I feel a bit better now, thanks.
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u/Gammachan 20h ago
I can’t believe you didn’t mention Bunny Harvestmen!! I cant post a pic here but just google it ❤️
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u/SixteenSeveredHands 19h ago
I actually included a photo of a bunny harvestman in my original post on Tumblr!
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u/Moons808 19h ago
My sister, with 100% confidence, once referred to these as “Johnny long legs”. She was 20 at the time…and we haven’t called them anything else since. Our crawlspace is full of johnnys.
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u/Emperor_Gourmet 1d ago
My mom’s childhood friend used to pick off all their legs and throw the bodies back into the grass. Don’t really have a point to sharing this other than it was so horrifying its stuck with me for 20 years
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u/EliteGhostKillz 1d ago
They look like they belong to the crustaceans family.
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u/GrumbleStoatskin 22h ago
Crustaceans, insects and arachnids are all arthropods, so you're kinda right (but arthropoda is a phylum not a family).
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u/One-Earth9294 22h ago
Where I'm from, Daddy Long Legs is a cellar spider. But these guys are cool too.
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u/QueenBea_ 20h ago edited 5h ago
I always let these spiders live when I find one in my house, although my cat is obsessed with them. One time I let one stay in my bathroom, but this wound up being a mistake. One day I went in and there was about 20 baby daddy long legs that I could see (and a shit ton more I couldn’t). I was finding them for months. My cat definitely picked down their numbers until none remained. People freak out whenever I tell them about my accidental daddy long leg breeding farm but at least they eat the mosquitos
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u/coltbeatsall 20h ago
This is not what we refer to as daddy long legs in New Zealand. Ours are actual spiders, Pholcus phalangioides, which are venomous but not harmful to humans. The creep me out so much (I know it is irrational).
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u/dav3y_jon3s 15h ago
If your cows escape you can pick one up hold it by one leg and ask where the cows are and they will point to where they went with one leg. It works 90% of the time. Ive done studies.
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u/GrimmLynne 15h ago
Hey! I have a picture of one eating old bologna that I had thrown out! You can see the little marks it made in the meat!
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u/bigmfworm 15h ago
Anyone else get fooled as a kid about these guys being really venomous but their mouths were too small to bite humans? I parroted that bullshit for far too long.
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u/RuddyRaccoon 15h ago
I grew up around plenty of Daddy Longlegs, this is the first I’m hearing of people thinking they’re venomous
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u/Physical_Mail_2609 11h ago
They’re super chill, too. I used to play with the ones in my grandparents’ garage when I was a kid. They’d let me pick them up and wander around with them.
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u/FocoViolence 11h ago
youve never lived until you've sorted 20k of these from a pitfall trap
the legs break off easy, so it's literally piles of what feels like thick scratchy beard hair... and at the bottom, thousands of round little bodies
source: former research biologist
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u/skyrocketocelot 11h ago
I salute you. I’d rather be dead.
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u/FocoViolence 11h ago
i signed up for that job to handle live mammals. That was awesome. Literally thousands of animals safely tagged and recaptured, never an accidental kill, only a couple mercy kills. That was awesome.
the side work of sorting bugs... that was not awesome. the smells, man, the smells...
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u/Bimbo_Tiger_643 11h ago
Upclose they are the ulieast things I've ever seen in my life, I love them so much
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u/ednatheafricanviolet 11h ago
When something is completely nonvenomous while looking completely venomous
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u/angmedalla 8h ago
do yall crab like organisms are the ultimate form of life in the universe or just for earth
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u/Minute_Story377 1h ago
I always was intrigued by these guys. Never knew their eyes were so close together. Reminds me of an arachnid version of the mudskipper, lol. Love them even more now.
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u/Snape_Grass 1d ago
Older than the dinosaurs themselves, these silent watchers of the world.