Daddy Long Leg Spider bite

[Mitton]

We went away for a work team building weekend 2 weekends ago. It was next to the Vaal river in Parys and there were a few Daddy Long Leg Spiders around.

One of the guys said he was bitten by one when he was in the army, he's got this scar on the inside of his bicep, a bit bigger than a R5 coin. He said he pinned the spider in between his arm and chest while sleeping and was bitten.

I have never heard of anyone bitten by one of these spiders but it was funny how "cool" he was in front of everyone so I was just wondering if anyone know if there has been any reported bites by these spiders.

I have heard all the stories about their venom being some of the strongest but that the jaw is not big enough to bite a human.

The scar looks more like he fell in barb wire or was burnt by something, but I could be wrong. He could have been bitten by something but could it have been a Daddy Long Leg?

[Bushbaby]

haha!! What a bunch of cr@p. He was probably bitten by a Sac spider and thought he was bitten by a Daddy long legs.

[Bushviper]

Nope the "daddy long legs" is not dangerous at all. The Violin spider looks very similar to the average "rocket scientist" and their venom does cause tissue destruction, burning sensation, fevers etc.

[Iggy]

aren't most of what people call Daddy long legs actually harvestmen?...not even a real spider.
http://www.backyardnature.net/longlegs.htm

[damiensharjah]

Nope the "daddy long legs" is not dangerous at all. The Violin spider looks very similar to the average "rocket scientist" and their venom does cause tissue destruction, burning sensation, fevers etc.

I'm with BV - Definately a violin spider. Three things: 1) It was wandering around at night. 2) it looks sort of similar to a daddy long legs. 3) localized necrosis and small circular scarring is perfectly typical of Loxoscoles .

[Nasicornis]

Am I mistaken or are daddy long legs not actually spiders but belong to the arachnid family?

[WW]

There are two types of arachnids referred to as daddy long-legs. One is the harvestmen, order Opiliones, which are not spiders at all - they are the ones with a rounded body in a single major part (spiders have two body parts, a cephalothorax with the eyes, mouthparts and all four pais of legs, and the abdomen), and are totally non-venomous. The second group are "daddy long-leg spiders", which are very long-legged spiders of the family Pholcidae. The "potent venom" story is a myth - nobody has ever looked at a Pholcid venom in any way whatsoever, never mind finding out its LD50.

Cheers,

WW

[Kay]

probably not a daddy long legs. And the story about their venom is not true either.