Arachnophobia anyone?

[pitbulllady]

Originally Posted by Lynnie

Oops. So sorry Fomal. I fixed it.

We certainly have wild tarantulas here in the southern plains and deserts, and scorpions too. *shudders* But that one living in the ladies restroom I'm almost certain was an escaped pet, because I don't think any of our local spiders get that big. And even if by chance there is a species or two that gets up to 8 inches long, I doubt they'd be in the mountains or even high plains of Colorado, where it gets very cold in the winter.

Are you talking about "Daddy Longlegs"? Yeah, they're kind of creepy. And although I don't dislike them as much as others, after hearing that they have one of the most poisonous bites of any other spider in the world, I'm a little intimidated by them. Even if their mouths are too small to bite a human, I keep thinking there could be some way that little bugger can inject its venom into me.

Actually, that rumor about "Daddy Long Legs" having the most-powerful venom, but being unable to bite a human, is a pure Urban Legend. Here in the US, "Daddy Long-Legs" is a common name used to describe Harvestmen, which are arachnids, but are more closely related to mites than to spiders. Harvestmen are vegetarians; they have no fangs, no venom, no silk, and of course, don't bite. In Australia, where this myth originated, the term "Daddy Long Legs" is applied to a true non-native spider, Pholcus phalangiodies, which we call "Cellar Spiders" here in the US. They DO have venom, and probably COULD bite us if they wanted to, since they are closely related to the infamous Brown Recluse, but they just aren't aggressive at all. Dr. Brian Frye, an Australian venom researcher, tested their venom, and found it was far, far from being close to the most-potent. To further illustrate how common names of animals can be misleading, in Europe, "Daddy Long Legs" refers to a Crane Fly!

pitbulllady