Spider (Daddy Long Legs)(Pholcus phalangioides)
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Suborder: Araneomorphae
Superfamily: Pholcoidea
Family: Pholcidae
Scientific Name: Pholcus phalangioides
Common Name: Daddy Long Legs,granddaddy long-legs spider, daddy long-legs spider, daddy long-legger, cellar spider, vibrating spider.
The Daddy long legs are an introduced spider during the early European colonial period.
Pholcids are fragile spiders, the body being 2–10 mm in length with legs which may be up to 50 mm long. Pholcids are web-weaving spiders and are distributed worldwide and was accidentally introduced to New Zealand. They hang inverted in messy, irregular, tangled webs. These webs are constructed in dark and damp recesses, in caves, under rocks and loose bark, abandoned mammal burrows in undisturbed areas in buildings and cellars, hence the common name "cellar spiders". However, Pholcids are also quite commonly found in warm, dry places, such as household windows.
When a victim is trapped in the web it immobilises it by wrapping it in silk not like other spiders that use venom.
There is an often-repeated urban myth that states ‘the daddy longlegs is the most poisonous spider in the world, but it can’t bite you because its fangs are too small’.
Daddy Long Legs (Macro Photo if you click on it) When enlarged NB silk from leg ends
A female Pholcus phalangioides carrying her egg sac
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