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wolf spiders (mander.xyz)
submitted 6 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[-] [email protected] 9 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

So, true spiders digest their food externally by injecting the venom. They then slurp it up. So the answer to that is "Yes". Some true spiders may also eat the more solid bits, but that's in addition to. but again, many- most- spiders are essentially harmless to humans.

harvestmen (daddy long legs) are not venomous and lack the mouth-parts necessary for injection, but they're not true spiders.

[-] [email protected] 9 points 6 days ago

harvestmen (daddy long legs) are venomous and lack the mouth-parts necessary for injection, but they're not true spiders.

Harvestmen do not possess venom glands.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opiliones

[-] [email protected] 8 points 6 days ago

Dammit I need to be more careful when posting on mobile. Meant to say not, lol. Thanks for the correction

[-] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

So, true spiders digest their food externally by injecting the venom.

That is not quite correct. They inject the venom to kill the prey, after that they will inject digestive fluids which will liquify and pre-digest the insides before the spider slurps it up again. But the venom is not essential to the disgestive process.

harvestmen (daddy long legs) are not venomous and lack the mouth-parts necessary for injection, but they’re not true spiders.

Harvestmen can bite (though many are too small to penetrate skin, it's very rare), so it's not like they lack the mouth-parts per se, they just don't have any venom glands that are feeding into the mouth-parts.

Also Opiliones are not just not true spiders, they are not spiders at all ("true spiders" are one of the 3 infraorders of the spider order). Opiliones are their own order.

However "daddy long legs" could also refer to an actual spider (and a true spider at that), Pholcidae. It's quite the ambigious name (there is even an insect, the crane fly that is also going by that name in some places).

this post was submitted on 07 Jul 2025
782 points (99.0% liked)

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