[Ron Fontaine]

A picture of a daddy longlegs hunting insects on a milkweed leaf.

Daddy longlegs remind me of aliens from the book War of the Worlds

If you watch one closely, you can see two large fangs drop from the head whenever it finds potential prey.

[Dick]

I call those harvestmen. They are a good ally in the garden. I am a big fan of any critter than shares a common enemy. In my case it’s aphids and leaf hoppers.

[Mac]

Originally Posted by Dick

I call those harvestmen. They are a good ally in the garden. I am a big fan of any critter than shares a common enemy. In my case it’s aphids and leaf hoppers.

...and brain-burrowing beetles....

[Dick]

Originally Posted by Mac

...and brain-burrowing beetles....

Thanks for the reminder, Mac. That reminds me of an old song...
There Was An Old Woman

[stairman]

Then theres the dreaded grandmother short legs

[garret]

strange, in aus this is a daddy long legs

http://www.usq.edu.au/spider/find/sp...ges/508A10.jpg
the Pholcus phalangioides spider


but in the uk it is this

http://blog.davidclare.me.uk/wp-cont...sa-closeup.jpg

which is the crane fly

[AlpineZone]

Oddly enough the daddy long legs helpful to us as they are is one of the most lethal spiders there is when you consider the potency of there venom.

But they are unable to bite humans fortunately. There fangs are to short.

[stairman]

I had heard that myself. I wonder if eating one would kill you?

[Sparky]

I had heard about the venom and fangs on a Daddylonglegs, I checked it out on Wikipedia. Don't know if they are accurate or not, but says that brown recluse also has very short fangs (.25mm) but it can still be very dangerous, so I guess that means the size isn't important, but what you do with it is (sorry).

Also says the venom is not the most toxic, as people have been bitten and only received minor irritation from the site.

Again, not an expert, I just found this when I remembered I'd heard this before also.

[Dick]

“You don't need to be afraid of Daddy Longlegs because they have no venom at all. I know that many people say "Though they have mouthparts so small they can't bite, they have the most poisonous of all venoms in the animal kingdom." This is just one of those "urban myths" going around.”
From:
Harvestmen (Daddy Longlegs)

“Harvestmen have a pair of prosomatic defensive scent glands (ozopores) that secrete a peculiar smelling fluid when disturbed, confirmed in some species to contain noxious quinones. Harvestmen do not have silk glands and do not possess venom glands, posing absolutely no danger to humans”
From:
Opiliones - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

“They produce neither silk nor venom, and thus are quite harmless with no poisonous bite or sting.”
From:
Harvestmen

“Unlike spiders, harvestmen do not spin silk. And they do not have venom glands or fangs.”
From:
HowStuffWorks "Harvestman"

“They also lack the poison glands and the silk-producing glands that spiders have.”
From:
Royal Alberta Museum: Invertebrate Zoology - Bug Facts - Harvestmen, Daddy-long-legs