The only other name that I've heard used for the flying Daddy-long-legs
is Tipulids, which comes from the scientific family name, Tipulidae, in
which all the 300 species are grouped.


My neighbour in Glasgow calls them Jenny-long-legs - don't know if this is
more common in Scotland.

"Cat" wrote in message
...
My way of getting rid of them, is to look after my pholcuses - they eat
the
most amazing amount of craneflies... I let them get a dinner or two, then
hoover up the remaining "parcel" of be-webbed dead cranefly...

Pholcuses are simply the best natural flying pest control there is... so
long as you're not arachnophobic :-)


What's a pholcuse then? Can't find any reference to the word on the web
.....





a

SNIP

They're just damned annoying - even their flight is noisy! Keep landing
in
drinks and stuff .... grrrr ....!


They are the most stupid animal in creation. 3 Billion years of evolution
and what do you get? John Cleese with wings, that's what. Direct from the
ministry of silly flying, banging into walls they haven't noticed, backing
off and banging into them again because they'd forgotten why they backed up

Nutters.

Steve

al wrote:
:: "Cat" wrote in message
:: ...
::: My way of getting rid of them, is to look after my pholcuses -
::: they eat the
::: most amazing amount of craneflies... I let them get a dinner or
::: two, then hoover up the remaining "parcel" of be-webbed dead
::: cranefly...
:::
::: Pholcuses are simply the best natural flying pest control there
::: is... so long as you're not arachnophobic :-)
:::
::
:: What's a pholcuse then? Can't find any reference to the word on
:: the web ....

because you added an 'E' ....it's a pholcus, plural = pholcuses (maybe) or
possibly, pholci.


HTH

They're just damned annoying - even their flight is noisy! Keep landing
in
drinks and stuff .... grrrr ....!


They are the most stupid animal in creation. 3 Billion years of evolution
and what do you get? John Cleese with wings, that's what. Direct from the
ministry of silly flying, banging into walls they haven't noticed, backing
off and banging into them again because they'd forgotten why they backed up

Nutters.

LOL!

On the other hand, with densities in pasture reaching 1 million/ha, a
few fields will contain as many as the entire human population of the
UK, so despite them being nutters, they are quite successful nutters in
evolutionary terms!

--
Malcolm



We had thousands of these stupid aviators a couple of years ago in the Morbihan
(Brittany). They covered the windows at night waiting to get in. The up side
was we didn't have to feed the cat for a week or two!

Phil

It's just an impression, but the incindence of daddy long legs here seems to
be inversely proportional to the time the local woodpeckers spend on our
lawn (well, the part of the garden that's supposed to be covered with
grass - the summer climate in the Paris region is sometimes uncomfortably
OT).

Regards

"ned" a écrit dans le message de news:
...

"al" wrote in message
.uk...
snip
I've not noticed these leatherjackets in our garden at all - least
not in
the grass. The flowerbeds are a little overgrown at the moment so
they
could be hiding in there! Apparently September is their main month.

The leatherjackets will be right down in the soil at grass root level
munching away on the roots.
After feeding all through the summer its now time for them to pupate,
hatch and get mating.

There are several different species ranging from tiddlers not much
bigger than midges right up to the biggies (Tipula maxima) with a
4inch leg span. They are all harmless to humans.

--
ned

http://www.bugsandweeds.co.uk
last update 29.09.2004

"al" wrote in message
.uk...
"Cat" wrote in message
...
My way of getting rid of them, is to look after my pholcuses - they eat
the
most amazing amount of craneflies... I let them get a dinner or two,
then
hoover up the remaining "parcel" of be-webbed dead cranefly...

Pholcuses are simply the best natural flying pest control there is... so
long as you're not arachnophobic :-)


What's a pholcuse then? Can't find any reference to the word on the web
....


Pholcus. It's a spider, just look up at one of the corners of your
ceiling...
http://caliban.mpiz-koeln.mpg.de/~st...angioides.html


--
Cat(h)
The world swirls...

Malcolm wrote in message
...

In article opse7zgbemadtv40@matservices, M. Tiefert
writes
On Fri, 1 Oct 2004 07:51:47 +0100, Malcolm
wrote:


I can't imagine why you were able to find something on Google which
indicated they were spiders! They have six legs and one pair of wings
and are flies. There are some 300 different species in the UK, of
which the largest has a wing span of about 6 cm, the smallest about


That's the trouble with common names. As far as I know, there are two
different spiders in the U.S. that are both called daddy-long-legs. One
in the East (well, at least in Ohio) has a round smooth bright-brown
body a little over 1/4 inch in diameter, with very thin legs that
touch the ground in a circle with a diameter of about 2 inches. (IIRC,
this is actually not a true spider.) The one in California is rather
disappointing by comparison - a rather ordinary thin small pointed
spider-type body, with legs that splay out to only about an inch.

Thanks for that. There are spiders in the UK that look a bit like yours,
though probably not as large and with oval rather than round bodies, but
with the same incredibly thin legs. They are called Harvestmen spiders,
though Daddy-long-legs would be a good name, too. Actually, again like
yours, although Arachnids, they are not regarded as 'true' spiders.

The only other name that I've heard used for the flying Daddy-long-legs
is Tipulids, which comes from the scientific family name, Tipulidae, in
which all the 300 species are grouped.

--
Malcolm

There is also a true spider in the UK which is commonly called the Daddy-
Long-legs Spider. Its scientific name is Pholcus phalangioides.
Spider

On Mon, 4 Oct 2004 12:45:45 +0100, "Spider"
wrote:

There is also a true spider in the UK which is commonly called the Daddy-
Long-legs Spider. Its scientific name is Pholcus phalangioides.
Spider

..............and he should know!

Pam in Bristol

"Cat" wrote
Pholcus. It's a spider, just look up at one of the corners of your
ceiling...
http://caliban.mpiz-koeln.mpg.de/~st...angioides.html

I'd *never* look up to see a Daddy Long Legs!
That's a lovely spider, Cat...........but in America the one we always
called Daddy Long Legs is the grass spider, Opilones.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opiliones
Much cuter than yer Pholcus, BTW.......who looks like he *could* kill a
Crain Fly!
KateH

On Sat, 2 Oct 2004 08:03:33 +0100, Malcolm wrote:

The only other name that I've heard used for the flying Daddy-long-legs
is Tipulids, ...

Crane flies.

--
Tim C.