Although most people call it a spider, it's actually more closely related to the tick and mite. Their most distinctive feature is it's long legs. Four pairs of approximately 3 inch long legs. They carry their small but elongated bodies low to the ground and use their legs to explore the enviroment and find food.
Females lay eggs in the fall on the ground and in spring, many tiny babies hatch. After mating, they lay eggs and die. Most species however, live for a year or two.
They are most commonly seen in summer during harvest time. Here in California, I see them year round because the weather is so mild. They prefer areas that provide cool shelter such as near trees, inconspicuous corners, patios, and closets. They need lots of moisture to survive. Can't understand why we have so many here because it's hardly moist out here and definitely not cool very often.
Mostly nocturnal, the adults are sometimes found in groups with their legs interlaced. If disturbed, they wave the front legs in the air or bounce up and down. I haven't seen any California ones do that, but the ones in Mississippi do bounce and are much bigger than the ones here in Fresno. Also, when threatened by predators, they release a stink from an abdominal gland. They clean the legs by running them through their mouths and will disconnect a leg if it's been grasped by a predator. However, they do not regenerate the leg.
Daddy-longlegs are hunters and scavengers of small, soft bodied creatures such as flies, gnats, aphids, snails, earthworms, true spiders, and insect eggs. Some species eat dead invertebrates, plants, or fungi. Unlike true spiders which eat liquids, daddy-longlegs have jaws and eat solids. They do not spin webs to catch their prey, however, the ones I've seen make a web and sit in it all day long. They only stuff I see them eat are flies that get caught in the web, so it must depend on species.
They are very nice to neutral depending on the aphid to earthworm ratio in your garden. They prefer the worms and therefore will eat those instead of the aphids most times. But again, I'm assuming that not all of these arachnids act the same in every enviroment. They are not venomous nor do they bite people.
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