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Alexander Dudley | all galleries >> Australian Invertebrates >> Australian Spiders > Daddy long-legs, genus Pholcus.
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2002 Alexander Dudley

Daddy long-legs, genus Pholcus.

Jabiru NT Australia

Although there are many different types of creatures called "Daddy long-legs" these things here are spiders, as they are web
spinners. There are Crane flies of the family Tipulidae which live in spiders' webs that are sometimes called "Daddy long-legs"
but they have wings. These three Daddy long-legs are sharing a meal of a huntsman spider. There is an urban myth that
Daddy long-legs are the most venomous spiders in the world, but there is not a shred of evidence to support it. Admittedly
Daddy long-legs webs can look a bit shabby but they are handy things to have about as they are good at catching insects,
- but they also eat other spiders. I don't know of any other type of spider that is willing to share a meal.

Nikon F801 ,Nikkor 55mm Macro,Fujichrome Astia 100F

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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Dominic Kite12-Sep-2004 20:32
How big are these things - using your earlier photo's of huntsman for scale, they must be huge?? EEK!