Irrational fears 1. Spiders & Opilionids

My first attempt at blogging, have read a few others found them interesting and thought I would try my hand and see how it goes, I enjoy a good rant.

So I was stood with a peer, tea in hand and noticed what is commonly known as a "Daddy Long-legs" peacefully perched on a wall in the joints between the brickwork. before long my associate spouted the most common, overused and incorrect fact aimed at them that is "The Daddy long-legs is the most venomous spider in the world but can't break the human skin with its tiny fangs" that sentence is both wrong and misleading seeing as the common Daddy long-legs isn't even technically a spider... at least no more so than a scorpion.

while it does belong the the phylum Arachnida making it an Arachnid this simply means it has eight legs which lets face it isn't that big a deal, in actuality it belongs to a lesser order Opiliones (Havestmen).
-Seems as it is summer I was able to find a few nice examples with ease for a simple comparison.- 

Opilionid(Harvestmen)

Araneid(spider)

The main and most obvious difference of the two is the body structure. The spider has a larger build separated into two sections the Cephalethorax for basic features such as eyes, fangs so on and the second the Abdomen for the production of the silk. as seen in the image the opilionid does not posses an abdomen meaning it can't spin a web also as a result makes itself susceptible to them and much prefers to live under rocks and logs. This can be linked with the change in diet as the opilionids feed on decomposing vegetation and is not required to catch its prey. As far as venom goes it would seem somewhat pointless in a harvestmen as dead leaves and such don't require much to be rendered incapacitated... so where did the myth come from?

Well its simply a mix up as the Harvestmen "daddy long-legs" shares its name with a type of spider the "Daddy longlegs" with the common name the "Cellar spiders" though there has never been a confirmed case in which a human has received a bite and reacted to it. also tests have never been carried out on testing potency of its toxin suggesting that the myth is little more than a false tale based on fear of these magnificent creatures and not actual fact. So there is little to fear, I'm not saying go out fondle and harass them just if you come across one in the home think before squishing him into the void... such an undignified way to go. Just pick it up gently and place it outside.   

remember there are very few spider species out there that would be able to deliver a deadly bite as although spiders do contain an amount of toxin to kill X amount of people, it only releases so much with a single bite & reaction all purely depends on the age and physical condition of the recipient (though it will hurt... BAD!!)