HOME	The Daddy Long Legs

Most people think that a daddy long legs is a spider, but it isn't! It is actually a harvestman! But be careful - you could be mixing it up with the cellar spider.

daddy long legs - a harvestman

It is different to a spider because it has only one basic body segment, at the most 2 eyes, and all 8 legs attach to the pill-like body segment. They do not produce silk so therefore they are never found in webs unless they are being eaten by spiders.

Another creatures often called daddy-long legs are actually spiders. These long-legged spiders are called cellar spiders, but arachnologists also call them "daddy-long legs spiders" because of the confusion generated by the general public. Because these arachnids are spiders, they have 2 basic body parts (cephalothorax and abdomen), have 8 eyes (most often clumped together in the front of the body), have 8 legs all attached to the frontmost body part (the cephalothorax) and make webs out of silk.

this one is a daddy long legs spider - can you see the difference?

So you will need to look carefully to see whether your daddy long legs is actually a spider or not. Remember that if it has a shape like this, with just one main body part and no abdomen, it is not a spider.