Comments & ID Thoughts
No idea what this is. NOT a Grandaddy Longlegs, body is wrong.
- Submitted by:
- Submitted: Dec 3, 2022
- Photographed: Dec 3, 2022
- Spider: Unidentified
- Location: Conroe, Texas, United States
- Spotted Indoors: Garage or shed
- Found in web?: Yes
- Attributes:
It’s a Cellar Spider in family Pholcidae. https://spiderid.com/spider/pholcidae/ It’s probably in genus Pholcus. A common name for them is Daddy Longlegs. We don’t use the name because it is also used for a different type of arachnid ( Opiliones) and an insect (Craneflies). Your spider is both an indoor and an outdoor spider. I don’t know if they are capable of biting people, I haven’t heard of it happening. Even if they can, the venom isn’t medically significant. A young one just walked across me to get to the other side. 🙂 I have them in all rooms. They stop… Read more »
Thanks! I grew up with spiders we called Grandaddy Long Legs, but their bodies were different. Looked like a little ball with no separation or segmentation of the body. The legs were also a longer. Any idea what I am thinking of?
Yes. They are in class Arachnida > order Opiliones. Spiders are class Adachnida > order Aranae. We don’t call them Daddy Long Legs because that common name is too common. It’s used for two kinds of arachnid and one kind of insect. “Harvestman” is allegedly a common name for them…that I’ve known no one to use.
As you noticed, the lack of separation between tagmata (segments) is an important difference between the spiders and opiliones. Spiders have a narrow tube, the pedicel, between the tagmata. It carries the blood, nerves, ducts, GI tract, and doesn’t leave room for solid food to pass.
That’s why spiders have to drink their meals.
Opiliones get to eat solid food and chew it a bit because it can pass through their body.
They are interesting animals with an unusual ability to scale smooth vertical surfaces.