Spiders scare many people. The fear could be reasonable because even though these eight-legged insects are smaller, they can be extremely dangerous and cause serious harm to humans.
But no need to fear them so much as not all of them are so threatening and the advancements in anti-venom technology have made treatment more effective. Understanding which species pose a true danger requires debunking a few myths, like the claim that daddy long legs are the deadliest spider in the world.
Deadly Spiders: How Dangerous Are These Eight-Legged Insects to Humans?
Is Daddy Long Legs the Deadliest Spider?
The simple and direct answer is "no." Retired research associate of entomology Rick Vetter of the University of California, Riverside, explained to Live Science that daddy long legs is a colloquial term used to describe three different animals and only one of them is a true spider.
There is the cellar spider from the family Pholcidae that has two body segments, eight eyes, and fangs with venom ducts and glands. Also, there are the Harvestment arachnids in order Opiliones that only have one single body segment, two eyes, but no fangs or venom glands. Lastly, there are crane flies in the family Tipulidae, which are not arachnids and their long bodies only make them look like mosquitoes.
Vetter said that harvestmen have long grabby mouths that look like pinchers and are used for tearing apart their prey. Meanwhile, crane flies do not bite humans since they have no mouthparts and their adult versions exist solely to mate and lay eggs.
In terms of venom and poison, Crane flies have none. On the other hand, harvestmen have poison. The difference between venom and poison is that the former is injected into the target, while the latter works either by being ingested or simply in contact.
According to UC Riverside, Opiliones are the true daddy long legs, but they do not have venom fangs. Instead, Harvestmen spray themselves with poison when disturbed to kill predators, but this does not make them the most poisonous.
Deadliest Spiders
The funnel web spider is usually considered the deadliest spider in the world, USA Today reports. The spider is native to Australia and has a venom packed with 40 different toxic proteins that a bite from this eight-legged insect is enough to kill a human. However, there have been no reported cases of human death because of a funnel web spider since 1980, when anti-venoms were developed.
Although the species is regarded as the deadliest spider, there is still some debate about it. CBS News has compiled some of these deadliest spiders, which include the Redback spider, Chilean recluse spider, Brazillian wandering spider, Sicarius spider, Brown recluse spider, Black widow, Hairy mystery spider, Brown widow spider, and Katipo spiders.
Even Encyclopedia Britannica has added Yellow Sac spiders, Red widow spiders, and Wolf spiders to the list of the deadliest spiders in the world.
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