Bug Wiki
Bug Wiki / All bugs / Spiders
Sticker of Tailed daddy long-legs spider
Bug card No. 1326 of 1,500

Tailed daddy long-legs spider

Crossopriza lyoni
Name means: “lyoni is for Captain Francis Lyon, who collected the first ones in India”
Eats: Other bugs and small animalsSpidersHouses and farms8 legsNot an insect, but a bug cousin

This spider has super long, thin legs and a tiny body. Its back part looks like a little box from the side, with a small bump on top. It loves to live inside houses, where it hangs in messy webs in corners.

Fun fact: spiders are not insects. Insects have six legs, spiders have eight. Everyone calls them bugs anyway!
Lives in
Warm places all around the world, mostly in and around houses
Length
2.5 to 7 mm (0.1 to 0.28 in)
females are a little bigger than males
Top speed
about 1 km/h (0.62 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless

Spiders are venomous! Read about spider venom on Venom Wiki →

What does it eat?
It catches mosquitoes and other small creepy crawlies in its web. That makes it a helpful house guest.
For real!Photo of Tailed daddy long-legs spider
Picture by Ethan Yeoman. CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Tailed daddy long-legs spider about 7 mm long (0.28 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)
small enough to sit on your fingernailcould run across a dinner table in 3.6 secondsmoves 40 times its own body length every second

How big is Tailed daddy long-legs spider compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Its front legs can be up to 6 centimetres long, many times longer than its body.

2

It can make little sounds by rubbing parts of its body together.

3

Nobody knows where it first came from. People carried it around the world by accident.

4

Some people do not like its dusty webs, but others are happy because it eats mosquitoes.

5

Harvestmen and crane flies are also called daddy longlegs, but they are not close relatives of this spider.

you asked

Most asked questions about Tailed daddy long-legs spider

?What does it eat?

Mosquitoes and other small animals that get caught in its web.

?How big is it?

Its body is only about 3 to 7 millimetres long, but its legs can reach 6 centimetres.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Crossopriza lyoni
Named by
Blackwall, 1867
Group
Spiders
Family
Pholcidae
Classification
Arachnida > Araneae > Pholcidae
Lives on
Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Australia and Oceania
Also known as
Tailed cellar spider, Tailed daddy longlegs spider, Box spider

Where the facts come from

  1. Crossopriza lyoni (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Ethan Yeoman. CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at hello@bugwiki.app and we will fix it.

More from the same group: Spiders

European garden spiderSpidersGoliath birdeaterSpidersBrown recluseSpidersRedback spiderSpidersYellow garden spiderSpidersBold jumping spiderSpiders

Also at home here: Houses and farms

Indian red scorpionScorpions, ticks and friendsOriental rat fleaOther insectsStable flyFlies and mosquitoesCommon house mosquitoFlies and mosquitoesTurkestan cockroachCockroaches and termitesCase-bearing clothes mothMoths