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Spider Expert Reveals Why You Shouldn't Kill A 'Daddy Long Legs'

Spider Expert Reveals Why You Shouldn't Kill A 'Daddy Long Legs'

The expert has revealed that daddy long legs are, in fact, 'crane flies' and not 'spiders'.

Anish Vij

Anish Vij

It's safe to say that many of us aren't the biggest fans of daddy long legs, particularly during the ongoing spider season, and a few of us are guilty of killing them when we spot them lurking in our homes.

But an expert has spoken out and has claimed we shouldn't kill these little critters because they're actually 'harmless'.

Now, despite many referring to them as 'spiders', they're not at all related to the arachnid family. They are actually a type of 'crane fly' and they often get mistaken due to their long 'spider-like' legs.

In fact, the wall jumping insects are actually useful for getting rid of spiders, aphids, dead insects, fungus, bird droppings, worms and snails.

Alamy

Karl Curtis is the director of reserves and community engagement at Warwickshire Wildlife Trust and, according to Mirror, he said: "They are out this time of year because basically, they are hatching out of our lawns and various places.

"They live a lot of their lives underground as a grub, as a larva, and then what they do is they hatch out over the summer.

"Probably now is the last throw of the dice, and what they do is they come out and looking to mate, lay eggs back into vegetation and then they die off."

He added: "They often get confused with spiders but they're not, they're flies, they're really good food source for birds.

They're really important to play their part so people should let them out their windows and not kill them."

Easier said than done, we must say!

Anyway, he continued: "The very long spindly spiders that you get in the corners of your room, they're called cellar spiders, those do pack a punch, but they are not dangerous to humans.

Alamy

"[Crane flies] they're absolutely harmless.

"While the female has a point on the end of her abdomen, that's to lay eggs, it's not a stinger."

He went on to say: "The reason they come into the house is for warmth and they are attracted to light so if the lights are on in the house they come inside, and they hatch out in the darker hours to avoid being eaten by birds.

"They're not looking for shelter, they're out looking for a mate and then looking to lay eggs, they end up in houses because their favourite habitat is short grass and we have lawns."

Curtis also reportedly said that using fly sprays are bad for the environment and other living things, therefore should be avoided.

So, to summarise, by not killing them you're helping the environment whilst decreasing your chances of getting poisoned by an actual spider.

Featured Image Credit: Alamy

Topics: UK News, Spiders