This spider has taken residence in a corner of one of the rooms, I’m not bothered by them but the web is getting a bit too big… can I just remove part of it to keep the size in check without causing harm to the spider?

  • Herding Llamas@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Unlike spiders, Daddy Longlegs don’t spin webs because they do not produce silk. Daddy Long Legs actually have only two eyes unlike spiders who have eight. Another difference is that Daddy Longlegs are not venomous. They do not have fangs or venom glands. - from Google.

    • RandomStickman@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      There are many arachnids that shares the common name. Opiliones, or harvestmen, is what you are referring to. But a family of spider, phoclcidae or cellar spiders, spin webs and does whatever a spider does.

      • poweruser@lemmy.sdf.org
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        1 year ago

        Yep the common name is regional. “Daddy longlegs” can also sometimes refer to crane flies, aka mosquito hawks/mosquito eaters

    • bec@lemmy.mlOP
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      1 year ago

      Wait, I now have to research how they build their webs then, if not by spinning. Thanks for the trivia!

      • fujiwood@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        They prefer back and forth motion, shaking if you will, over a circular motion like stirring. Hence they don’t spin webs. They prefer them shaken not stirred.

      • livus@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        No, the daddy long legs you’re talking about is a spider and of course it spins its webs. @PolyLlamaRous was talking about something completely different, the harvestman.

        From their likely source:

        Other Daddy Longlegs

        Some of the confusion over whether the daddy longlegs is a spider comes from the fact that there are two are small creatures with that name, and one actually is a spider.

        The daddy longlegs spider is the cellar spider. It is pale gray or tan and has banding or chevron markings. Crane flies, which resemble large mosquitoes, are sometimes called daddy longlegs as well.

        • bec@lemmy.mlOP
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          1 year ago

          I was about to reach the same conclusion, as I couldn’t find any mentions of alternative ways of spinning webs, so thanks for the confirmation!