Intersting Fact

This summer while on a camping trip as a way to occupy my niece i made up a story about a daddy long legs spider named Jack. She, her mother and her grandmother (my mom) all ended up in the story. She loved it and we have now become obsessed with finding 'Jack' everywhere we go.

So, i had the idea to actually write a story about Jack for her and my nephew who has also caught on to 'Jack' fever. I hope to be able to write something (and maybe illustrate it) for her birthday and/or Christmas.

So, in order to write the story i wanted to know a little bit more about Daddy long legs. Well i was surprised with the information i found. the 'spiders' that we have been looking at are not actually spiders. The following is from an article I found online.

"Although they resemble spiders, daddy long-legs, more correctly called harvestmen, are neither spiders nor insects. Taxonomically, they are arthropods, in the same class as spiders, Arachnida, but in a different order, Phalangida. Anatomically daddy long-legs differ from spiders because their three body segments -- head, thorax and abdomen, are joined as one compact body segment. Spiders have two body segments -- the head and thorax are joined as the cephalothorax, and the abdomen is the second body segment. Insects, which are taxonomically in the class Insecta, have three distinct body segments." (Carpenter, 2000)

I just thought this was very interesting and now i need to continue my research so that i can write a proper story that will teach my niece and nephew about these interesting insects and help to dispell the thought that they are spiders. You learn something new everyday!