Having realised that wiki could asnwer my questions:
Daddy Long Leg Information! Daddy Longlegs is a name used for different things in different places.
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Crane fly (Tipulidae) (the most usual sense in British English), an insect
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Harvestman (Opiliones) (in North American English and British English), an arachnid, but not a spider
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Cellar spider (Pholcidae) (especially in Australian/New Zealand English, but also North American English and British English), a true spider
I always grew up calling Crane Flies Daddy Longlegs.
Neither the Crane Fly nor the Harvestman has venom glands, and the venom of the Cellar Spider is fairly innocuous. The urban myth that Daddy longlegs are the most venomous insects/spiders is completely untrue, it even featured on Mythbusters. (
Season 1, Episode 13 "Buried in Concrete")
The urban legend may stem from the fact that the daddy long-legs spider is known to prey upon deadly venomous spiders, such as the redback. By extrapolation, it was thought that if the daddy long-legs spider could regularly kill a spider capable of delivering fatal bites to humans, then it must be more venomous, and the fangs were accused of prohibiting it from killing people. In reality, it is merely quicker than the redback.
Edited, Apr 20th 2010 7:10pm by Pud