Brennan Jackson
Jones County Extension Agent
We’ve always heard that daddylonglegs were the most dangerous spider because their venom or poison was the most toxic, but their mouths or fangs were too small to be harmful to humans.
Even still, plenty of people have a terrible fear of these creatures due to the potential of their deadliness.
However, the problem is that daddylonglegs are not actually spiders. Do they have eight legs that is indicative of a spider? Yes. Do they look live a spider? Yes, but they are not spiders.
To begin with, if you remember anything about the classification of living things, spiders belong to the order Araneae that consists of more than 46,700 species. However, daddy-longlegs is not one of those species. They actually belong to the order Opillones. Also, spiders tend to be solitary creatures where daddy-longlegs tend to be more social and congregate with one another. Spiders produce silk to make webs, and daddy-longlegs do not have that capability. Spiders are predators that inject venom through their fangs to their prey, but daddylonglegs do not produce venom or have fangs. Instead daddy-longlegs have mouth parts similar to crabs which is more chewing or bitinglike. Therefore, daddy-longlegs are not the most venomous spiders in the world.
However, these creatures are quite beneficial. Their diet consists of a broad range of things from rotting fruit, dead insects, spiders and insects including aphids that can cause considerable damage to plants. This type of pest management is referred to as biological control. Biological control works when insects prey upon other insects that cause damage to crops, ornamentals, and turf. This process reduces usage of pesticides, and can work extremely well. On the other hand, daddy-longlegs do tend to congregate around the structures of homes in the fall, but this is only temporary. Insecticides should be used only in the most extreme cases. For more information please contact the Jones County Extension office at (478) 986-3958 or email brennan4@uga.edu.
