The ability to break off legs is similar to the ability of lizards to break off a portion of their tail if being attacked by a predator. Males tend to have smaller bodies than females but they have longer legs. The body of most adult daddy-longlegs is about 1/16-1/2 inch long, oval with very long legs. To protect themselves, daddy-longlegs produce a pungent odor most predators find distasteful. Daddy-longlegs have mouthparts similar to those of crabs or scorpions that they use to hold prey while they eat. A very popular urban legend states that the daddy-longlegs are the most poisonous spiders in the world, but their fangs are too small to penetrate human skin. Daddy-longlegs do not produce venom, nor do they have fangs. Spiders also produce venom they inject through fangs to quickly kill and digest prey. Daddy-longlegs do not have spinnerets that spiders have to produce silk and make webs. While they have eight legs and an outward appearance of a spider, daddy-longlegs lack two of the most important features that make a spider a spider: silk production and venom. The common name, daddy-longlegs, likely came about because of their small oval body and long legs, and the name harvestman because they are most often seen in large numbers in the fall around harvest time. They are not spiders, but belong to a group with many different species, called Opiliones. You see them almost every day, but very little is known about daddy-longlegs, also called harvestmen.

Daddy long legs life cycle