PHOLCUS: THE LONG-BODIED CELLAR SPIDER

Although I first saw this tiny spider months ago, it took me awhile to time to find a suitable specimen of it. It is a "long-bodied cellar spider,” whose scientific name is Pholcus phalangoides. It most active during the evening. Unfortunately, I could never get a decent, in-focus picture of this spider (an animal that does not like to be photographed!) 

The tiny long-bodied “cellar spiders “have an oval-shaped body and very thin and very long legs, about 5 to 6 times as long as the spider’s body. With their legs folded up, this spider has a width of 18 mm, but the majority of that distance is still taken up by just the legs. The cellar spider matures after about one year and lives for another two years or so. They are active at night. They need water for their survival but drink only once every few days. They can grow new legs but only under certain conditions.

Figure 1. A long-bodied cellar spider, with its long  legs folded somewhat. This spider was about 18 cm wide (before its legs got folded up).

Cellar spiders eat black widow spiders and brown recluses, as well as cockroaches. They use their long legs to cast silk onto their prey and then consume their prey. Thus, if you tolerate them (they are usually well hidden and not a nuisance), then they are “good neighbors.”

  Classification:

Kingdom Animalia

Phylum Arthropoda

Class Arachnida

Order Araneae

Family Pholcidae

Genus Pholcus

Type Species P. phalangoides

[note: This species is a true spider.]

Note: In my research of this spider, I came across a highly confusing taxonomic issue. Tiny, long-bodied cellar spiders, like the one illustrated in this blog, are often mistakenly identified as the “Daddy-Long-Legged Spider.” But, “Daddy-Long-Legged Spiders” are different animals.

“Cellar Spiders”

Kingdom Animalia

Phylum Arthropoda

Class Arachnida

Order Araneae

Family Pholcidae 

Genus Pholcus

Note: The geologic range of Pholcus is from the early Cenozoic (Paleogene) to Recent.

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note: Just so you know, I include here, the classification of “Daddy Long-Legged Spiders:

Kingdom Animalia

Phylum Arthropoda

Class Arachnida

Order Opiliones

Family Sclerosomatidae

Genus Protolophus

Additionally, I might add that, unlike “Cellar Spiders,” the “Daddy-Long-Legged Spiders” have no fangs and do not bike, their abdomen is fused to the cephalolthorax. Also, "Daddy-Long-Legged Spiders  usually have only two eyes and usually live outdoors.

So, please be aware that “cellar spiders” are NOT “Daddy-Long-Legged Spiders.”

REFERENCES

Hogue, C. L. , revised by J.N. Hogue. 2015. Insects of the Los Angeles Basin, 3^rd edition. 474 pp. Natural History Museum publication. 

Wikipedia 2025.

 

THE LARGE REPILE CHAMPSOSAUR: A DINOSAUR-AGE SURVIVOR

 Champsosaurs were reptiles that lived during the Late Cretaceous Turonian time (90 mya) and into early Eocene time (56 mya).  Thus, they lived during the time of some large dinosaurs. Also, they were the largest vertebrate to have survived the extinction crisis at the end of the Cretaceous Period. They occupied freshwater (rivers and swamps) and possibly estuaries. They resembled gharials (with their long narrow snouts used for catching fish) and, to a lesser degree, they resembled alligators. Nevertheless, they are not regarded as belonging to neither one of those two groups.

 Figure 1. Two views (left side and dorsal) of Champsosaurus laramiensis.
 

Champsosaurs were up to 3 m in body length, and their bodies were streamlined, flattish, and covered in small scales. Their eyes were on top of the their head, and their ears were on the underside. Individuals had sexual dimorphism. The females had limb bones for land use, whereas the males were likely fully aquatic.

Ten species of champsosaurs have been named (whether or not all of these names are valid needs investigation). Champsosaurs lived in both freshwaters and salt waters, at the western edge of the Western Interior Seaway in coastal south-central Canada and north-central western USA. Also, a few early Cenozoic species are known from Belgium and northern France. 

Classification

Kingdom Animali

Phylum Chordata

Class Reptilia

Order Choristodera

Genus Champsosaurus; [note: this word is derived from an ancient Greek source].

Type Species C. annectens Cope (nomen dubium)

Figure 2. Champsosaur sketch.

Figure 3. Gharial sketch---for comparative purposes.

Figure 4. Alligator sketch---for comparative purposes.

References Consulted

Abdale, J.R. 2020. Champsosaurus: The Croc-Lizard of the Cretaceous. https://dinosaursandbarbarians.com

Brown, B. 1905. The osteology of Champsosaurus Cope. Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural History, v. 9, pt. 1, 26 pp, 5 pls. [see digitallibrary.amnh.org]

SPHINX CATERPILLAR

This caterpillar belongs to family Sphingidae (the “hawk moths"). It is a large family with about 200 genera and 1,400 species (there are reportedly 28 species of this caterpillar in California!). This genus of caterpillar is found in a great variety of climates, especially the tropics. These caterpillars have a voracious appetite and will eat just about any kind of vegetation. Sphingids are commonly called tomato or tobacco “worms.” But, they are not worms!  

  Classification

Kingdom Animalia

Phylum Arthropoda

Class Insecta

Order Lepidoptae

Family Spingidae

Genus Sphinx

Species: unidentified

Caterpillars are just one stage in the development of these creatures. They go from the pupa stage, to the caterpillar stage, and ultimately to the moth stage. 

I found this particular specimen (dead) on a public sidewalk along the side of the garden at our house. I checked my garden and found no evidence of any sphinx caterpillar activity. Perhaps, this specimen was dropped there by a bird that just happened to roost in a large tree next to our garden. 

Moths are some of the fastest flaying insects known and can fly as fast as 5.3 m/second! Furthermore, some moths can be the size of a hummingbird.

Two figures of the same specimen of Sphinx sp.: length 44 mm and width 10 mm. Upper image: left-side view (I know it looks backwards, but it is not---i.e., the horn is located at the rear of the animal). Bottom image: top view--notice the “horn” on the posterior end of this specimen.   

THE LAST STAND OF THE WOOLY MAMMOTH

Wooly mammoths (Mammuthus primgenius) lived about 300,00 years ago until their extinction about 4,000 years ago. This animal was mostly late Pleistocene in age and was widespread throughout the Arctic tundra-vegetation zone, in both the New World and Old World. Wooly mammoths migrated via Beringia 3 from Europe to North America during the last Ice Age. [note: see one of my earlier posts a few years ago on the evolution of elephants and related forms]

Figure 1. A plastic model of Mammathus primigenius, which was a mammoth species that lived in Europe, Asia, and North America. It is likely that the wooly mammoth evolved from M. primigenius.

During most of their history, mammoths lived on mainland northern continents (Europe, Asia, and northern North America). DNA studies show that they were closely related to the Columbian Mammoth [see my previous blog post on the geologic history of mammoths].  

Figure 2. Location of Wrangel Island, Russia.

When wooly mammoths were near extinction, there remained only a small population of them on Wrangel Island, 87 miles (140 km) north of mainland Russia, in the northern Pacific area. Wooly mammoths and humans never lived together on this island [i.e., last of the Wrangel Island mammoths was 4,000 years ago. The first substantiated human occupation was about 1800 B.C.], but it is likely that early arctic-area indigenous people visited the island from time to time. By the time Europeans discovered Wrangell Island, however, it no longer had any human presence.

Wrangel Island (approximately located at 71 degrees north and 179 degrees west) (Figure 2) is about the same size as Yellowstone National Park or of the state of Delaware. Wrangel Island stretches about 78 miles, from west to east. The northern part is tundra, but the south central and southern areas are mountainous (e.g., Mammoth Mountains and Central Mountains—the latter with the highest peak (1096 m =3600 feet) on the island). Wrangel Island, which has a severe polar climate, is subject to cyclonic episodes of high northerly winds. It also has short summers.

Figure 3. Google-Earth image showing the details of Wrangel Island in the Arctic Ocean, north of Russia.

The rocks in the central and adjacent southern parts of Wrangel Island have the most complex history and make up the “Upper Paleozoic Wrangel Complex,” consisting of greater than 2,000 m of volcanic, slate/phyllite, quartzite, some small granite intrusions, and 700 m of Upper Silurian and Lower Devonian clastic rocks and carbonates. These beds are overlain by some Lower Carboniferous rocks and Permian slates and limestones, which are overlain by thin Tertiary and Quaternary clastics. The edges of the island have a relatively uncomplicated geologic history (Kosko et al. 1992).

The island is now a Russian Protected Sanctuary and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, accessible only by tourist-cruise ships. A permit is required in order to get onto the island, and a few rangers live there. No one else is allowed to live there. It is foggy and frosty most of the time. It rarely gets above 42 degrees Fahrenheit, and can get as low as -72 degrees F.  Only a few rangers live on the island. The wildlife includes mostly polar bears [the highest density of polar bears in the world!], bearded seals, Pacific walruses, musk oxen, arctic foxes, Siberian lemmings, Arctic foxes, wolverines, wolves, snow geese, snowy owls, gulls and many shorebirds (e.g., horned puffins, cormorants, and long-tailed ducks). In places, in the tundra and beach cliffs, wooly mammoth tusks and other fossil remains weather out of the Pleistocene-age deposits. 

What happened to the Wrangel wooly mammoths is not known. There has been plently of speculation: low genetic diversity, disease, eruption of an Arctic volcano, overhunted by the Neanderthals, or couldn’t adapt to warm weather?

A compilation of the geologic history of wooly mammoths (via Wikipedia) from youngest to oldest time:

1800 years ago, first human settlement on Wrangal Island.

4,500 to 4,000 years ago, wooly mammoths went extinct.

10,000 years ago, wooly mammoths died out from Eurasia and North America but some wooly mammoths became isolated on Wrangel Island as the rising sea level cut their access to the mainland. These isolated wooly mammoths, however, continued to survive on Wrangel Island for another 6,000 years.

11,700 years ago = end of last ice age.

29,000 to 19,000 years ago = last glacial maximum.

REFERENCES

Kos’ko, M.K. and 6 others. 1993. Geology of Wrangel Island…Excerpts from Geological Survey of Canada Bulletin 461 (available online for free).

“Russian refuge. Wrangel Island is a haven for wildlife, frozen in space and time.” National Geographic, May 2013, pp. 51-70.

 

THE BLACK-CHINNED HUMMING BIRD

In late July, 2025, I was surprised to see a humming-bird species that I had never seen before in southern California. It was Archilochus alexandri, the "black-chinned humming bird" that is native to western North America, from Alaska to South America. This bird is uncommon, however, in Canada. Archilochus migrates twice a year between western USA, Mexico, and Central America. Some individuals are apparently found in the Gulf Coast region.

The males of the Archilochus alexandri in my front-yard garden have a purple and black throat, whereas the females have whitish throats. They are all small slender birds, about the size of a sparrow. They live in woodland, brushy habitats. Individuals usually live three to five years, but some can be as old as 12 years. They feed on nectar from flowers, sugar water from feeders, and also on small insects.

Figure 1. Side-view of a hovering female Archilochus alexandri. 

Figure 2. Another side-view of the same specimen of A. alexandri.

Archilochus belongs to the family Trochilidae, and the fossil record of this family is early Oligocene (approximately 34 to 28 million years ago).

Apparently, humming birds originated in South America. Today, there are about 325 species of humming birds that live in the Western Hemisphere. Ecuador has the highest diversity of humming birds. The smallest known humming bird is only 2.25 inches long and looks like a big bee. It lives in Cuba.

Interestingly, there are no humming birds living in Africa, Asia, nor Europe. 

Note: I was lucky to be able to photograph this rare (to me) humming bird; even then I had to be at considerable distance. They are VERY nervous birds but not as much as the more common but extremely cautious “Anna’s hummingbird” [Calypte anna] that I frequently see in my garden but never can get close enough for a decent photograph.

References

Wikipedia, 2025  

EXTANT SAWFISHES

Sawfishes are elasmobranchs (cartilaginous fish). The sawfish, also known as the "carpenter shark,” is one of the world’s most endangered fish. Although this fish has a sharklike body, it not a shark. It is a type of a ray fish that is closely related to stingrays. They resemble some sharks because of convergent evolution (i.e., they live similarly in the same environment as some sharks, therefore, they look similar to some sharks).

 

Sawfishes are characterized, however, by a long and narrow, toothed snout (rostrum) that resembles a saw. The rostrum has teeth on both sides, with a total of 22 to 29 teeth. The “saw” is used for stunning fish that it wants to eat. The flattened body of the sawfish has gill slits located on the underside of the body (similar to stingrays). In addition, the sawfish has no bones; rather it has cartilage; thus they have a poor fossil record.

There are presently five living [extant] species of the sawfish, but all are endangered because of the activities of (you probably it) by human activity. Two of these species live in the Gulf of Mexico [now the Gulf of America] and along the borders of southern states. These animals are illegal to sell or trade in the USA. It is estimated that there are between 200 and 5,000 individuals of sawfish left worldwide.  

The smallest sawfish species, Pristis pectinata, is the only sawfish species living today in Florida. A longer sawfish lives in the Gulf of Mexico but has a limited range. Sawfish are generally not aggressive. The largest known sawfish is 25 feet (7 meters) in length, including its long and slender snout. They use their saw-like snout to stun and impale fish; not for “sawing.” There is only one recorded case of a sawfish attacking a human without being provoked. 

The predators of sawfish are salt-water crocodiles, as well as sharks. 

Although ancestors of sawfish lived during the Cretaceous Period, the geologic range of modern sawfish is from latest Paleocene/early Eocene to modern day. Today, they prefer to live in coastal and estuarine, tropical and subtropical waters today (e.g., Florida, Bahamas, Honduras, and Cuba; western Pacific; and Indian Ocean).

            Sawfish classification:

Kingdom Animalia

Phylum Chordata

Class Chondrichtyes

Order Rhinosprisformes

Family Pristidae

Genus Pristis

Type Species: Pristis pectinata, = so-called largetooth species.

The other four living species are the following: 1) smalltooth, 2) green, 3) narrow, and 4) dwarf. Collectively, the five species of Pristis vary in a few physical features such as dorsal-fin location, shape of the tail (caudal) fin, and their saw (rostrum). 

Plastic model of a sawfish dorsal (top) view.

Ventral (view) of plastic model of the sawfish shown above. 

                                    USEFUL REFERENCES

Wikipedia 2025.

Wueringer, B.E., L. Squire, Jr. [unrelated to me], and S.P. Colin. 2009. The biology of extinct and extant sawfish (Batoidea: Sclerorhynchidae and Pristidae). Review in Fish Biology and Fisheries, v. 19, pp. 445-464.   

STURGEON FISH

This is an ancient group of Late Cretaceous fish with primitive features that indicate a long evolutionary record. This fish most likely descended in Jurassic time from acipenseriform fish, but there is no agreement in the literature as to exactly when sturgeon fish first appeared in the fossil record. Their geologic time range is estimated to be Late Cretaceous (possibly about 70 million years ago) to Recent.

Some Interesting Facts

Sturgeons are scaleless and their skeletons are cartilaginous. Based on these observations, early workers wrongly assumed that sturgeon fish are sharks. Some sturgeon fish species have smooth skin, whereas other species have rows of bony scutes. The presence of bony scutes readily distinguishes them from sharks.

Some species of sturgeons can live in fresh water (rivers and lakes) and, for at least parts of their life span they can also live in shallow-water saltwater (gulfs). They are bottom feeders. A few species suck up their food off the bottom via a quick-acting “suction pump.”

Sturgeons are native to subtropical, temperate, and sub-arctic rivers, lakes, and coastlines. They are a Northern Hemisphere fish, with several species in the U.S.A. and Europe. For example, they live in the Columbia and Sacramento river systems of the Pacific Northwest of the USA. Like salmon fish, sturgeons live in salty water but return to fresh water for spawning. Some species are exclusively fresh water, whereas other species are primarily marine inhabitants. Also, like the salmon fish, they migrate upstream but, unlike salmon, do not die after spawning. Sturgeons feed on the salmon fish.

They can live 100 years + and can be up to 7.2 m (23 feet, 7 inches) long. Sturgeons do not start reproducing until they are 15-33 years old. Some sturgeon species weight up 3,500 pounds (male). They are very strong, especially their tails. Thus, they can swim long distances up large, powerful rivers. 

There are five living genera and 26 or 27 living species. There are four categories of these species: vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered. A few of these species however are farm-raised (for their meat and cavier (eggs).

Classification

Kingdom Animalia

Phylum Chordata

Class Actinopterygii

Order Acipenseriformes

Family Acipenseide 

Genus Huso

Type species: Huso huso

Among the living species of sturgeons, 10 are raised for their caviar and meat. The other species are either endangered or critically endangered, with some species now being federally protected.

Figure 1. Side view of Acipenser medirostris, also known as the “Green Sturgeon.” My sketch was based on a photographic image of a live specimen found in a river environment. The photograph was taken by Laura Heironimus, of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, and used in December, 2021 by Wikipedia. Length of this specimen not given, but it was probably several feet long. 

Reference

Nordhaus, H. 2025.  Surviors from the “Dinosaur Age.” National Geographic Magazine, April 2025, pp. 115-133.

Wikipedia. 2025.