this post was submitted on 06 Aug 2023
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This spider has taken residence in a corner of one of the rooms, I'm not bothered by them but the web is getting a bit too big... can I just remove part of it to keep the size in check without causing harm to the spider?

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[–] ch00f@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (6 children)
[–] Oka@lemmy.ml 19 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If it looks like a spider, and acts like a spider, and freaks me out like a spider, it's close enough

[–] o_oli@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

In the UK what we call a daddy longlegs has wings and flies (a crane fly I think). Obviously a very widely used name for things with a small body and a bunch of long legs haha

[–] emmanuel_car@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

We call those flying daddy long legs in NZ

[–] o_oli@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Can't tell if you are being serious or pulling my leg with that but I love it haha. I mean it's a perfect way to distinguish because over here we have no good way to call the spiders other than 'one of those long leg small body kinda spiders' which is a terrible name.

[–] emmanuel_car@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago

Definitely not pulling your long leg, daddy, it’s how we distinguish between the long legged things with wings and the long legged things without

[–] MossyFeathers@pawb.social 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Not true. Daddy long legs is a colloquial term that refers to several different species, including spiders.

[–] erusuoyera@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 year ago

It is the name for a type of crane fly in the UK.

[–] bec@lemmy.ml 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

That doesn't look like my friend at all lol

This one here looks very much similar to my friend (thin and long body): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pholcidae

No idea why there's multiple animals called all the same way though

[–] cupcake_of_DOOM@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Cellar spiders/ daddy long legs have become catch-all terms for any spider or pseudo spider with tiny body and long legs. Anyway, webs get disturbed all the time in nature. The spider just rebuilds. As long as you don's bump in to them, they will just repair the web. If the web needs repair too often, then the spider will move elsewhere.

[–] bec@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I see, kinda lazy nomenclature, but I guess with all the different kinds of spiders, at some point you run out of names ahah thanks for the info! I hope they stay because they've been eating good, and I appreciate the reduced amount of insects

[–] GlowingLantern@feddit.de 3 points 1 year ago

In German, cellar spiders are called “Große Zitterspinne” (Great Trembling Spider), due to its defensive mechanism. There’s a whole family of Zitterspinnen. Crane flies are called “Schnake” (no direct translation, large mosquito). There are regional variations, however, where both are also referred to as daddy long legs.

[–] Narrrz@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

over here (NZ) what we call daddy long legs are, I believe, known as cellar spiders in other places.

[–] livus@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yes, that's right. Fun fact: they eat whitetail spiders.

[–] Narrrz@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

oh, that's cool! I thought it was the other way around.

[–] livus@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I used to think so too! To be fair the whitetails want to eat the daddy longlegs, but they don't have the reach advantage.

There are some videos on youtube eg this one.

Can't find it right now but somewhere there's a 3 part one showing how the daddy longlegs deliberately lures the whitetail to try to come and eat it, but it's a trap.

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[–] lovesickoyster@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

Depends on who you ask. Pholcidae are also called daddy longlegs and are spiders.

[–] emmanuel_car@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I read that as opulence (you own everything)

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