Watching the Daft Crane Flies: Benji's Epic Struggle

[wolram]

Or, Crane fly, We have millions of the things, i have never seen so many,
the daft beggars are crashing about all over, every now and then there comes
a Chomp as benji tries to catch one, the law of averages
says he will, but he is getting on, I watched one of these flys circle the hob
and take a nose dive straight into the frying pan with my bangers in, i am not
sure what they taste like so i scooped it out.

 

[arildno]

Choppety-wee, haloo!

 

[Echo 6 Sierra]

Please tell me if this would have been an appropriate reply:

Next time scoop the dodger up, dredge him in flour, let him sleep with the bangers, whistle a pint, Bob's your Uncle.

Is it close?

 

[Andy]

nope. One of the little critters landed in my pint the other night, luckily enough the barmaid let me have another one free of charge.

 

[El Hombre Invisible]

Daddy long legs are driving me crazy, just because my girlfriend seems to find one every five minutes, scream, then make me run around the room trying to catch the little f'er and throw it out the window, except you can't THROW a daddy long legs out of the window because in defiance of the laws of physics the daft beggar always seems to accelerate in the opposite direction to that in which the force is applied and the beasty just flies back in your face. TIP: hold the fly enclosed in your fist and bring this up to the open window while holding the window latch with your other hand. Open your hand slightly to make a kind of tube and blow through it as hard as you can, almost immediately shutting the window. Sometimes they still get in, but if you're quick enough it'll work.

 

[hypatia]

You have flying daddy longlegs!

 

[matthyaouw]

http://www.arachnology.org/Arachnology/Pages/Pictures/opilionid.jpg are often confused.

 

[El Hombre Invisible]

To most Brits, a daddy long legs IS a crane fly. That's the first I've heard the term used for anything else.

 

[wolram]

Please tell me if this would have been an appropriate reply:

Next time scoop the dodger up, dredge him in flour, let him sleep with the bangers, whistle a pint, Bob's your Uncle.

Is it close?

a heroic attempt

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

To most Brits, a daddy long legs IS a crane fly. That's the first I've heard the term used for anything else.

I've heard the term used for two different things even here in the US. One is for Crane Flies, usually referred to mistakenly as Masquitohawks around here. Where I am commonly Daddy Longlegs refers to a spider looking type critter which is actually called a Harvestman and isn't actually a spider. In my dictionary at home it refers to the Harvestman specifically. They're close though since a Crane Fly looks a lot like a Harvestman with wings.

 

[El Hombre Invisible]

I've heard the term used for two different things even here in the US. One is for Crane Flies, usually referred to mistakenly as Masquitohawks around here. Where I am commonly Daddy Longlegs refers to a spider looking type critter which is actually called a Harvestman and isn't actually a spider. In my dictionary at home it refers to the Harvestman specifically. They're close though since a Crane Fly looks a lot like a Harvestman with wings.

Ahhh, you see... in the UK, harvestmen look like normal people but with gardening implements. They don't have wings cos they have combine harvesters (and they'll give you the key). DO we have those spider-looking critters in the British Isles? Anyone? I've never seen one.

 

[matthyaouw]

We do. They mostly live outside, and their legs fall off pretty much as soon as you look at them.

 

[wolram]

Ahhh, you see... in the UK, harvestmen look like normal people but with gardening implements. They don't have wings cos they have combine harvesters (and they'll give you the key). DO we have those spider-looking critters in the British Isles? Anyone? I've never seen one.

We have that huge spider type thing that can walk on water, i saw one once,
it had legs about 2.5 inches long and a tiny body, i think they are called
water boat men.

 

[matthyaouw]

Nay, water boatmen are these things. I'm not sure what the spiders are called.

 

[wolram]

Nay, water boatmen are these things. I'm not sure what the spiders are called.

What the heck are they called, i looked on google with no luck
the ones i have seen were on stagnant ponds, they are hard to see as they
are so spindly, but size wise they are huge.

 

[matthyaouw]

I know the ones you mean, but I have no idea what they are called.

 

[Simetra7]

What the heck are they called, i looked on google with no luck
the ones i have seen were on stagnant ponds, they are hard to see as they
are so spindly, but size wise they are huge.

I don't know if the spiders we here in Australia call Daddy long legs are the same as the ones you guys are talking about. We get them in the house all the time. They sit up in the corner quietly all day and at night they string their damn webs all over the place. They have tiny bodies and long spindly legs. I just looked them up and their proper name is Pholcus phalangioides.

 

[Evo]

Daddy long legs don't spin webs and they aren't spiders, they are arthropods.

http://www.wnrmag.com/stories/2000/jun00/daddy.htm

Edit: I see TSA has already discussed these and matthyaouw already highlighted the difference for crane flys. Oh well.

 

[MaxS]

Or, Crane fly, We have millions of the things, i have never seen so many,
the daft beggars are crashing about all over, every now and then there comes
a Chomp as benji tries to catch one, the law of averages
says he will, but he is getting on, I watched one of these flys circle the hob
and take a nose dive straight into the frying pan with my bangers in, i am not
sure what they taste like so i scooped it out.

Holy crap i seriously have no idea what you just said.

 

[Astronuc]

What the heck are they called, i looked on google with no luck
the ones i have seen were on stagnant ponds, they are hard to see as they
are so spindly, but size wise they are huge.

The UK has water spiders - http://www.naturegrid.org.uk/biodiversity/invert/spiderw.html
http://www.naturegrid.org.uk/pondexplorer/gallery/wspid.html

Wooly - are you thinking of water striders? - http://www.fcps.k12.va.us/StratfordLandingES/Ecology/mpages/common_water_strider.htm

or perhaps it is an actual spider - Dolomedes -
http://www.dolomedes.org.uk/
http://www.ukbap.org.uk/UKPlans.aspx?ID=267
http://www.uark.edu/depts/entomolo/museum/dolomede.html
http://www.arkive.org/species/ARK/invertebrates_terrestrial_and_freshwater/Dolomedes_fimbriatus/more_info.html

As for daddy-long-legs

The creatures most correctly called daddy-longlegs are in their own separate Order which is Opiliones. Common names for this Order are 1) daddy-longlegs, 2) harvestmen and 3) opilionids. They are characterized by having one basic body segment which shows segmentation on the posterior portion, at most 2 eyes and all 8 legs attach to the pill-like body segment. They are usually found under logs and rocks, prefer moist habitat although they can be found in the desert, often have long flexible legs (in the temperate Northern hemisphere but there are also short-legged daddy-longlegs) and they do not produce silk so therefore they are never found in webs unless they are being eaten by spiders. Because they are found under logs and other stuff which people most often are not turning over, most folks don't run into daddy-longlegs very often.

Another creature often called daddy-longlegs are actually spiders. These long-legged spiders are in the family Pholcidae. Previously the common name of this family was the cellar spiders but arachnologists have also given them the moniker of "daddy-longlegs spiders" because of the confusion generated by the general public. Because these arachnids are spiders, they have 2 body basic body parts (cephalothorax and abdomen), have 8 eyes most often clumped together in the front of the body, the abdomen shows no evidence of segmentation, have 8 legs all attached to the front most body part (the cephalothorax) and make webs out of silk. This is most probably the animal to which people refer when they tell the tale because these spiders are plentiful especially in cellars (hence their common name) and are commonly seen by the general public. The most common pholcid spiders found in U.S. homes are both European immigrants. Pholcus phalangioides is a uniformly grey spider with rectangular, elongate abdomen and is found throughout the U.S. Holocnemus pluchei also has a rectangular, elongate abdomen but has a brown stripe on the ventral side (the belly side - which is typically directed upwards since the spider hangs upside down in its web) which covers its sternum and is a stripe on the abdomen. These spiders are very common along the Pacific Coast. and into the southwest deserts.

from http://spiders.ucr.edu/daddylonglegs.html

Daddy Long-legs Spider Fact File - http://faunanet.gov.au/wos/factfile.cfm?Fact_ID=85
Pholcus phalangioides

The cosmopolitan Daddy Long-legs Spider belongs to a group known as the tangle-web spiders, of which there are 12 Australian species. It builds irregular webs in sheltered areas, often in and around human habitation including houses, garages and sheds. It feeds on insects and other spiders. Its successful use of human-made structures has made it one of the most common spiders in Australia. There is a persistent belief that the Daddy Long-legs Spider has the most toxic venom of all spiders. However, there is no scientific evidence to back this up. Its tiny fangs are incapable of piercing human skin. The myth probably grew from observations that the Daddy Long-legs Spider will kill and eat a Redback Spider.

Distribution:
Throughout Australia.

see also - http://www.museum.vic.gov.au/spiders/detail.aspx?id=4

My brother and I used to play with them all the time, letting them run over our hands and on our clothes.