This splendid little 'Mother of the Year' not only clutches a sac of up to 50 eggs in her pedipalps for the 17-24 day incubation period, but she continues to carry her bundle of spiderlings for another week or so until they disperse into her web and then beyond.
After a pair mates in the autumn, the female uses her long ovipositor to lay her eggs in a cleft in the soil. The eggs hatch with the warmth of spring. Many species of daddy longlegs live less than one year, though some may survive for several years.
It takes about 1 year for a baby Daddy-long-legs to reach adulthood. They can then live up to another 2 years as an adult. In that time a female can have up to 8 clutches of 50 or more eggs. That's over 400 baby spiders!
Female daddy-longlegs lay their eggs in soil, under stones, or cracks in wood. The eggs are laid in the autumn and hatch in the spring.
Most harvestmen reproduce sexually via direct fertilization, although some species reproduce asexually (via parthenogenesis). Their body size ranges from a few millimeters to a few centimeters in diameter. The legs of most species are several times the length of their body, although some species have shorter legs.
Daddy long-legs are very beneficial to a house or home. They are omnivores and eat insects, other spiders, pests such as aphids, dead insects, fungus, bird droppings, worms, and snails. They are great to have in a house or garden.
Daddy Long Legs
But like common household spiders, you should leave these guys alone if you spot them in your house. They aren't poisonous to humans and basically couldn't even really bite us (their mouths are too small). They prefer eating fruit and other insects, which they'll happily catch and rid your home of.
“They hook their pedipalps [a type of appendage on the front of the arachnid] behind the female's sensory legs … and then there's a bunch of back and forth between males and females that varies in duration across species.” Mating can last for 15 seconds in some species, and three to four hours in others.
Daddy longlegs are prone to drying out, he says, so bunching together allows them to create a microenvironment. “It's kind of like body heat, but it's body humidity,” he says. “They are huddling together to maintain that.”
A gentle pinch is enough to trigger an internal system that discharges the leg. It's a way to stay alive in the wild if something is trying to devour the bug's limb. Whether it hurts is up for debate, but most scientists think not, given the automatic nature of the defense mechanism.
They Can't See Very Well
Daddy longlegs have simple eyes mounted on eye turrets attached to their bodies. These eyes act as light sensors and do not appear to provide more than blurry images. Research shows that cave harvestmen are most receptive to the light emitted by the glowworms that make up their diet.
They live two to seven years unless stepped on. They groom themselves by sliding one leg at a time through their mouth, a practice called “leg threading.” Males have much longer legs than females.
Food sources: Daddy long legs feed on decaying plant matter and small invertebrates, so if you have a lot of dead leaves or other organic matter around your home, this can attract them. They may also be attracted to areas with a lot of insects, as these are a food source for many species.
The Daddy-long-legs Spider feeds on insects and other spiders.
Crane flies
They go by many names, including daddy long legs, mosquito eaters, and mosquito hawks. But they are not mosquitoes, and they do not eat mosquitoes.
The female can occasionally eat the male if he's not up to scratch, but this behaviour is quite rare in daddy-long-legs spiders.
To keep daddy long legs out of your home, trim plants away from your house and clean up the wood, trash and other debris around the perimeter of your house. Seal cracks and crevices around your foundation, windows, and doors, and repair broken screens so they have no way of entering your home.
Not considered pests, these arachnids are harmless to people and pets and beneficial to the environment. You can help return daddy longlegs to their rightful place by picking them up and placing them outside or gently sweeping them outside with a broom.
To a spider, losing a leg isn't a very big deal. Heck, some even voluntarily castrate themselves. Overall, there's a slight lag in development time. Being short a leg or two (or six) is going to slow you down a bit, which makes prey harder to catch.
It is rare for harvestmen to be found in homes, and because they are nocturnal, being most active at night, they can be difficult to detect.
They are most dormant during the day but will come out at night to hunt small bugs and arthropods such as ants, aphids, worms, and beetles. Daddy longlegs will also eat decaying plant matter and fungi. They prefer to stay in small, enclosed spaces such as under rocks, leaves, and holes in wood.
Huge daddy longlegs: Spider cousin found in Laos with 13-inch leg span.
They are often very shy and mimic their surroundings as they patiently sit and wait for prey. This may also enable them to evade predators such as birds. Legs are the daddy longlegs' most important body part.