Guest
Vonones spp. harvestmen are arachnids and are related to spiders, but they are not the same thing as spiders. This is also true of the large and gangly daddy long-legs harvestmen arachnids, they are not spiders though they look sort of like them. However daddy long-legs SPIDERS are indeed spiders. Daddy long-legs spiders are species in the family Pholcidae (Order Araneae, aka spiders), and they are also called cellar spiders. Craneflies are sometimes referred to as daddy long-legs, though they are not spiders, but insects. Have I confused you enough, yet? :D And that whole thing about daddy long-legs being venomous yet their fangs are too short to envenom a person is, gasp, a complete and total myth, an urban legend. Just think about how small the fangs are on a widow spider or a brown recluse, yet their bites can be horrendous! In fact, harvestmen don't even have fangs, or venom (keep reading). The daddy long-legs spiders, or cellar spiders, are also harmless to people. It's true that harvestmen have 8 legs, but having 8 legs does not make a species a spider. It is also true all spiders have 8 legs, but not all bugs with 8 legs are spiders (i.e. scorpions, mites, pseudoscorpions, harvestmen and vinegaroons/whip scorpions also have 8 legs). Harvestmen belong to the arachnid order Opilones, and are really cool creatures. They have two eyes, while spiders can have no eyes on up to 8! They do not have silk glands and many are omnivorous, consuming both animal and plant matter, and even poop (yum!). They don't have fangs and don't produce venom- while all spiders do have fangs and nearly all produce venom (spiders of the family Uloboridae don't produce venom). Harvestmen have chelicerae (mouth parts) that are evolved for grasping food, much like scorpions actually, instead of fangs. Imagine two small appendages shaped like the claws of a crab and you have an idea of what harvestmen chelicerae look like. Harvestmen have fused body segments which make them appear as if they only have one, while spider body segments are easily distinguishable (cephalothorax and abdomen). From this video you can see how some Vonones spp. harvestmen fluoresce when exposed to UV light (this light is somewhere between 365-395 nm ), much like scorpions. This species has not been identified yet, but I believe it is a good candidate for Vonones sayi. They are very common out here in the Texas hill country and are found under rocks and rotting logs, many times in large groups. Check out my other Vonones video showing what this specimen looks like in regular lighting. For more information on Vonones spp. and other harvestmen arachnids, visit: #Misconception
