I just got through watching this segment. The moment it started I knew that you guys had already messed up. The spiders you used weren't Granddaddy Long Legs at all and I very surprised the so-called spider expert didn't notice this. This is a granddaddy long legs:
I agree, i just watched a re-run of that episode and realized that they did NOT use REAL daddy long-legs. I have been bitten by a REAL daddy long-legs, and it hurts a lot, not only that, but it stings for about an hour, and hurts for about 2 days! On a REAL daddy long-legs, their fangs are big enough to easily see under their circular head. They have no abdomen at all.
[quote]The spiders you used weren't Granddaddy Long Legs at all[/quote]
Yes, they certainly were. In the Mythbuster's area.
There have been at least a dozen different species posted here with the claim, "This is the REAL daddy long legs!" usually closing with an insult of some sort. The fact is that common names don't accurately identify a species; it is common for the same name to be used in different regions to refer to an entirely different animal or plant.
That's why scientific, binomial nomenclature was developed, and why individual species are painstakingly described. Nowhere on this thread, or any other thread, has anyone bothered providing the scientific name of any of these so-called "real" daddy long legs spiders (some of which aren't even spiders.)
Common names are perfectly valid within their own scope, and the spiders used on the show are, indeed, called "daddy long legs" in San Francisco. The myth itself never bothers to give a scientific name, or a particular location where this is supposed to be true. So they were entirely correct to use the species they did, given that the myth circulates in their area.
[quote]I have been bitten by a REAL daddy long-legs, and it hurts a lot, not only that, but it stings for about an hour, and hurts for about 2 days! On a REAL daddy long-legs, their fangs are big enough to easily see under their circular head.[/quote]
See above; there is no such thing as a "REAL" daddy long-legs. It is a common name that is applied to many different species in different areas.
I see you, like everyone else, have not bothered to provide the scientific name of the animal you're referring to, placing your complaint outside the realm of testing.
Leiobunum rotundum is the species that MOST people think of when they hear the words, "Granddaddy Long Legs". I believe the spider that was in the episode was a cellar spider, which I have never heard referred to as a "daddy long legs".
As Gator said it depends on your geographic location. But the cellar spider is the spider that is most commonly called the granddaddy long legs.
The Leibunum rotundum AKA the Harvestman is not even a real spider.
http://www.xs4all.nl/~ednieuw/Spiders/Opiliones/Opiliones.htm From that site, half way down the first paragraph. [quote]They should not be confused with the "daddy longlegs" (Pholcidae).[/quote]
Check your facts then complain, not the other way around.
i agree with the first post. on the east coast of the USA i have always heard the term "daddy long legs" applied to those spider-ish things that have the weird disc shaped one piece body thing and long spindly legs.
this name confusion throws the whole myth in a tailspin. which thing is supposed to be "poisonous enough to kill you if the fangs could break your skin". i heard it applied to what i know as a daddy long legs. they have no discernible face (not that i held one down and examined it), let alone fangs... so it seemed plausible the thing would have mini fangs. they are much more mysterious because the ones i see in PA have no obvious front and seem to walk in any direction they please.
i lived in latrobe, pittsburgh, and indiana, pennsylvania for most of my life and the 'daddy long legs' we had there could grow VERY large (i've seen some with a 5 inch leg-to-leg diameter) and they do indeed have very discernable fangs when larger but he's right that you can't really tell which way is which because they really do just TAKE-OFF in any direction they want.
the local myth in PA is that they aren't actually spiders though.
How can you agree with something that is so blatantly false? He himself proved that the MB were correct in their testing. It is no ones fault that you were calling the wrong species the daddy long legs.
i didn't agree with anything but jb's definition of what they are over here for us.
the only reason i really posted was to define the size and agility of what we know of 'daddy long legs' spiders in pennsylvania and to iterate the fact that around that area there was a local myth that those spiders weren't even spiders to begin with.
I was responding to JP's post where he said he agrees with the OP. I should have stated that. Now, there are a lot of misconceptions about What a daddy long legs is. But the fact of the matter here is that they did test this correctly. It is many others that simply call something it is not.
Oh and the Harvestman which is probably what you are talking about is not a spider, The daddy long legs is a spider.
[quote]that harvestman is what we east-coasters call the daddy long legs.[/quote]
I am an east coaster, I do not call them daddy long legs. And it does not matter if you call them that or not, they are two different things. Anyway, this is all irrelevent because we now all know that the MB tested this one correctly.
[quote]..except milipedes--those things are awesome.[/quote] And they taste pretty good too.
i'm not arguing the data that they collected and i never susptected that the myth was true in the first place. i'm just helping to clarify the differences...hence my ORIGINALLY stating that the supposed spiders commonly known as such were, in fact, not even spiders and then me going out and confirming the details about the harvestman.
i've spent time in canadia (eh,) pennsylvania and florida and in all three locations the harvestman has been called daddy long legs.
And who said that calling a cellar spider a "granddaddy long legs" was correct? Each region has it's own opinion, I guess. If you took a nation-wide poll, I bet you that the majority would agree that the Harvestman is the true "daddy long legs".
I couldn't even bare to watch. Adam is unbelievabley brave or unbelievably stupid! Hmmmm! I'll leave that to Jamie. In south Alabam we have thse spiders that they caught and used in the show. They have a very close and often misidentified cousin. The Brown Recluse.
Seen here. http://creatures.ifas.ufl.edu/urban/spiders/brown_recluse.htm.
Theier bite digests then rots you from the inside out. Very nasty! Been bit twice. But the myth about the dady long legs involves an bug known as a harvestmen or grand-daddy longlegs and kids play with them all the time because of their harmless nature and lack of fangs as they may not even be a spider but actually a mite which may carry venom I don't know but they can find out I hope.
