They are generally much smaller and more delicate, too. Similar species: Long-legged cellar spiders (in the spider family Pholcidae) are sometimes called “daddy longlegs,” but they are definitely spiders: They weave cluttered, irregular webs in the upper corners of basements, caves, and similar places and clearly have two distinct body regions: an oval abdomen plus a rounded head. Sometimes there are tiny yellow, orange, or red blobs stuck on the body or legs: These are mites parasitizing the harvestman. Their chelicerae (mouthparts) are too small to bite people. They lack venom, but they emit a weird odor when disturbed. Lacking silk glands, they never build webs. They also lack silk and venom glands, and they only have two eyes. The body is a simple oval, and it’s usually hard to tell where the “head” ends and the segmented “abdomen” begins. We can easily see differences between harvestmen and spiders. They regularly cannibalize each other, not to be confused with the shed exoskeletons left as the spiders grow.ĭefenses: If disturbed, the spider will shake its web back and forth quick enough to make the spider very hard to see to distract and confuse potential threats.Most of us are familiar with the common, harmless, spiderlike “harvestman,” with its remarkably long, wiggly legs. This is ridiculous and completely false, they have mild venom that takes quite a bit to even immobilize their small insect prey. Cellar Spiders, also known as Pholcids, typically have a body length ranging from 1/4 to 3/8 of an inch (6-10 mm) and a leg span of around 2 inches (50 mm) or more. One myth that surrounds these spiders is the fact that they have the most toxic venom of any spider but cannot bite because they are too small. One of the primary differences between these two arachnids is their size. Prey is heavily wrapped in a veil of very fine silk, turning it whitish in color (see inset picture). I have even seen a deer tick captured by one of these spiders. These spiders capture large amounts of household pests such as mosquitoes, flies, larder chafers, drugstore beetles, meal moths, ants, Asian ladybugs and other spiders (ones that wander on the floors). They are extremely beneficial to have in your home. Outdoors around houses and in crevices or caves.ĭiet: Insects such as flies, beetles, moths, centipedes, ants, mosquitoes and other spiders. They do this because they prefer places that are dark and moist. Like we said, cellar spiders like to make their homes down in your cellar or basement. Their natural habitat ranges throughout Canada and the United States. Habitat: Houses, barns, sheds, basements, under porches, outbuildings, under tables, in cabinets and corners, and under furniture. It’s often said that their legs are about five times as long as their body. There are two kinds of cellar spider: the short-bodied cellar spider and the long-bodied cellar spider. Spiderlings stay in the web with the mother until their first shedding. It is built in dark corners and crevices.Įggs: 17-42, held in a very fine sac of silk, held by the female in her web. Web: Irregular tangle of web strands, not very strong. Mistakenly called a daddy-long legs, a distant relative of all spiders. Somewhat translucent looking, females larger than males and can have distended abdomens from eggs within. Description: Very long legged spider with small narrow body.
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