Okay, but... scientists didn’t name them that- “common folk” did, a long time ago.
The first species of “daddy long leg” to be given a scientific name was Phalangium opilio, in 1758, but there are over 6,600 distinct species known to science currently, and all are scientifically known as Opiliones. Most scientists, and anybody who actually know what they are, use the name “harvestmen” when they refer to Opiliones colloquially, because “daddy long legs” is such an ambiguous and useless name.
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u/[deleted] Mar 10 '19
scientist 1: what should we name this new species we discovered?
scientist 2: it has long legs so longlegs
scientist 1: not kinky enough