are daddy longlegs venomous
Myth: A Daddy long-legs spider has the most potent venom of all spiders, but is unable to pierce human skin. Status: Busted. A Daddy long-legs was able to bite through the skin of Adam's arm. He reported nothing more than a very mild, short-lived burning sensation. Claim: The daddy longlegs is the world's most poisonous animal.. Status: False. Example: [Collected on the Internet, 2000] The most poisonous animal, believe it or not, is the daddy long legs, however, it's mouth is so small, it cannot bite us. Origins: This claim has a few ambiguities to it. Myth Busters - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myt... Myth: A Daddy long-legs spider has the most potent venom of all spiders, but is unable to pierce human skin. A Daddy long-legs was able to bite through the skin of Adam's arm. He reported nothing more than a very mild, short-lived burning sensation. Dear Straight Dope: All my life I've heard that the Daddy Long Legs spider is the most poisonous spider in the world — but his mouth is too small to bite you. Now I'm beginning to take flack from my buddies in defense of this theory. The pholcus phalangioides, also referred to as the long-legged cellar spider, is an example of a daddy longlegs spider, probably the one referred to here as being the world's most poisonous animal: In fact, the Daddy Longlegs is not technically a spider, although it is an arachnid. I even learned its mating dance. But what I didn't learn was the answer to your question. I ran out of new source material. Despair loomed. Is a Daddy Long Legs the most poisonous spider? All my life I've heard that the Daddy Long Legs spider is the most poisonous spider in the world — but his mouth is too small to bite you. Now I'm beginning to take flack from my buddies in defense of this theory. An urban legend states that Pholcidae [The cellar spider or daddy longlegs (Pholcus phalangioides), also known as the skull spider] are the most venomous spiders in the world, but because their fangs are unable to penetrate human skin, they are harmless to humans. So, for these daddy-long-legs, the tale is clearly false. Daddy-longlegs spiders (Pholcidae) - Here, the myth is incorrect at least in making claims that have no basis in known facts. There is no reference to any pholcid spider biting a human and causing any detrimental reaction. Furthermore, recent research has shown that pholcid venom has a relatively weak effect on insects.[3]** In the MythBusters episode Daddy Long-Legs it was shown that the spider's fangs (0.25mm) could penetrate human skin (0.1mm) but that only a very mild burning feeling was felt for a few seconds.[4]
Yes