Daddy long legs goes on a police ‘ride-along,’ extension entomologist tapped to debunk venom myth

As part of his job as an extension entomologist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, Jon Zawislak gets a lot of questions about insects and other arthropods like spiders. He didn’t expect to get one from a streaming show about law enforcers.

By Mary Hightower
U of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture

Fast facts

• Leggy hitchhiker prompts query to extension entomologist
• Harvestmen/daddy long legs are NOT venomous

(381 words)

(Newsrooms: with art)

LITTLE ROCK — What has eight legs, blue lights and streams?

If you guessed “an arthropod perched on the back of a police chief being filmed on a streaming law enforcement show,” you’d be right.

As part of his job as an extension entomologist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, Jon Zawislak gets a lot of questions about insects and other arthropods like spiders. He didn’t expect to get one from a streaming show about law enforcers.

Screen grab from a recent episode of "On Patrol: Live," on REELZ. The image shows Hazen Police Chief Bradley Taylor with a spidery hitchhiker. (Image courtesy Evan Cutler)

Two weeks ago, Evan Cutler, producer of the REELZ program “On Patrol: Live,” emailed the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture wanting “some clarification regarding the danger of a bite from a daddy long legs.”

The program was filming in Hazen, Arkansas, when the crew noticed something odd on Chief Bradley Taylor’s back, catching the blue lights of a police car. It was a daddy long legs, also known as a granddaddy long legs, or harvestman.

“I was on a traffic stop when there was one crawling around on my back,” Taylor said. “I could feel something on the back of my neck, so I just thought it was a mosquito or a fly because flies have been pretty horrible here lately.”

He didn’t think much about “until they put it all over TV.”

About that spider

“The term ‘daddy long legs’ could refer to any of the spider species in the family Pholcidae, also called cellar spiders, carpenter spiders, or a variety of other common names,” Zawislak told the producer. “The term could also refer to a group of arachnids called Opiliones, or harvestmen, which are not actually spiders, but a unique group more closely related to mites. 

“There is an often-repeated urban legend that daddy long-legs have the most potent venom of any spider but that their fangs are either too small or too weak to puncture human skin; the same legend is also repeated of the harvestman,” Zawislak said. ”No known species of harvestmen have venom glands” and their little grasping claws called chelicerae “are not hollowed fangs and not strong enough to break human skin.” 

Epilogue

The daddy long legs was released from custody.

“It just disappeared from my shoulder,” Taylor said. “If you watch the video, I just threw my hand over and he just disappears.”

To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu. Follow us on X at @AR_Extension. To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu/. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on X at @AgInArk.

About the Division of Agriculture

The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s mission is to strengthen agriculture, communities, and families by connecting trusted research to the adoption of best practices. The Division of Agriculture conducts research and extension work within the nation’s historic land grant education system through the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service.

The Division of Agriculture is one of 20 entities within the University of Arkansas System. It has offices in all 75 counties in Arkansas and faculty on five system campuses.

The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture offers all its Extension and Research programs to all eligible persons without regard to race, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital or veteran status, genetic information, or any other legally protected status, and is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.

# # #

Media contact: Mary Hightower
mhightower@uada.edu