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.

-------------

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.