who knew a daddylongleg's eyes were beautiful?

[ensho]

I sure didn't until I saw this



a photo from a microscope

I hate when one of them gets on me even though I know they are harmless

the above is from this site:

http://www.olympusbioscapes.com/gallery/2010/index.html

[MrMickeysMom]

1. I hated them too, remembering from childhood...

I never saw their beauty then. Perhaps if someone had calmed me down and made me see that, I would have.

[lonestarnot]

2. Daddylonglegs are cu.

[muffin1]

3. Wow

Gorgeous!

[nashville_brook]

4. DLLs are the only spider that doesn't bother me...great photo!!

[Viva_La_Revolution]

5. who knew they aren't even really spiders?

your random trivia for today...

"extremely interesting facts about our spindly-legged friend, the Daddy Longlegs (I'm going to skip the differentiation between 'poisonous' and 'venomous'). F'rinstance, you're correct about its mouth size--too small to bite humans. It feeds on small insects or the corpses of larger ones. It has a penis, which makes it different from spiders. In fact, the Daddy Longlegs is not technically a spider, although it is an arachnid."
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1447/is-a-daddy-long-legs-the-most-poisonous-spider

great pic!

[ensho]

8. wow, I didn't know that spider/arachnid penis info

so a daddylonglegs has beautiful eyes and a penis!

[SusanaMontana41]

21. Beautiful eyes and a penis? That describes

Vince Gill ...

[Jamastiene]

25. I was thinking Ricky Martin.

Or Kurt Cobain.

Vince Gill sounds good too.

[GKirk]

9. So it won't bite me but it might...

...rape me? That's comforting.

"It has a penis, which makes it different from spiders"

[laundry_queen]

11. I actually DID know that. lol.

My brain is a great repository for random facts. That and I took zoology in university with a prof that LOVED bugs (omg ew). Oh, and it's not just the penis thing, it has to do with how many parts of the body (spider has 2, daddy long legs has one) and where and how the legs are attached. :)

[flamingdem]

6. Darlink your eyes are pools of green liquid emerald, muah! nt

[qb]

7. Very cool. As a child I enjoyed playing (gently) with these gentle creatures.

[HughBeaumont]

10. This photo's great. Too bad they genuinely make my skin crawl when zoomed out.

YEEEEEEEEEEESH . . .

[ensho]

13. shudder - there were loads of them in Md. but I haven't noticed any

in the Fl. Keys

wonder what they do in winter in Md.?

[Karenina]

15. Growing up in MD in the '50's

They were EVERYWHERE. What's weird is I'm an irrational arachnophobe (a condition I believe was brought on by a B/W SciFi TV movie I saw at 5 or so about a giant spider from outer space running amok...) :rofl: I've trained myself for YEARS to control the panic over seeing anything bigger than my thumbnail.

DDLs do not, never have frightened me at all, to the point that I can pick them up and am completely undisturbed if they crawl over me. :freak:

I'm not surprised they have such beautiful eyes. Thanks for the post!

[Jamastiene]

26. If it's like NC, they come inside and make themselves at home.

That's what they do here. Some go under the house, but a lot of them try their damnedest to get inside the house.

They are fine with me as long as they don't get ON me. I'm ok with spiders too, if they are just in the room with me...except Carolina Wolf Spiders and Rabid Wolf Spiders. They have to go back outside, because they run faster than I do and give me the creeps. That's the one spider I can't get over my fear of. But, even wolf spiders are cute when you look at their eyes and faces close up though. I still search macro pictures of their faces and eyes to try to end that part of my arachnophobia too.

They have different eye colors depending on the spider. The spiders that helped me get over my total fear of all spiders was jumping spiders. Their little faces are absolutely adorable. Videos of jumping spiders are even better. They jump around and play. Squeee!

[woodsprite]

17. That looks like the DLL's orgy they had on my porch ceiling last year.

My daughter refused to go out the front door to take the dog out.

[patrice]

12. They are voracious eaters of other small many-legged critters. nt

[RadiationTherapy]

14. All the DLL penis you could ever want to see.

Who knew they swarmed like this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAdwB-1vvWM

[Solly Mack]

16. Neat!

I've always found them fascinating.

[DirkGently]

18. Indeed beautiful. Also a bit Aaaaaaaaghghghahaahhagggack. Ahem.

[dtexdem]

19. That's what you get for just staring at the legs.

;-)

[Politicalboi]

20. Cool!

I used to try and stun fly's and then I would throw them into a DDL web we had in the corner of the ceiling. I would listen as the fly was getting spun.

[Lucinda]

22. Very cool!

Thanks for the link!

[applegrove]

23. Kewel!

[Jamastiene]

24. Wait until you see a macro picture of a jumping spider.

It will melt your heart. I'm not kidding. When I first saw a picture of a jumping spider's eyes and a closeup of their little faces, I was astonished at how adorable they look. Who knew?

K&R

[glinda]

27. I love Daddylonglegs and now even more. Thanks!