Longbodied Cellar Spider

Longbodied Cellar Spider (Pholcus phalangioides - pronounced as FOHL-kuss fuh-lan-gee-OY-deez) also known as Cellar Spider or Daddy Longlegs Spider.

I often come across the female spiders and normally shun taking photos of them as their legs are way too long for me to capture whole. Also, I know I'd seen the female because of the eggs apparently. The egg sac is usually blurry but this one was quite contrasty. My only unwarranted fear at that time was that my lighting (and not because it has the *most potent venom of all spiders) might not be able to lit the spider properly since it was hanging upside down.

"Taxonomic Hierarchy:

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Arthropoda

Class: Arachnida

Order: Araneae

Family: Pholcidae

Genus: Pholcus

Species: Pholcus phalangioides

Author of species name: Johann C. Fuesslin. First year published: 1775, as Aranea phalangoides.

Pholcus can mean either “bandy-legged” or “squinty-eyed” in Greek, but the intended meaning in the case of this spider is uncertain, though it is assumed that Walckenaer meant for it to mean “squinty-eyed” (Cameron 2005). In Greek, phalangioides likely means “looks like a finger bone.”

This is a cosmopolitan species that can be found all over the world, but it is likely endemic (native) to Europe.

Both male and female have primary colours of White, Brown, Tan, and Gray.

Size:

Body length (excluding legs) of adult female ranges from 7-10 mm; adult males range from 6-10 mm.

Eyes:

Total of eight eyes. There’s a cluster of three eyes on each side, with two small eyes in between.

Legs:

Legs are very, very long and thin; delicate-looking. They are grayish-brown with bands of white and black at the joints. The front legs on an adult of this species can be up to 50 mm in length (sometimes more).  All legs are covered in hairs not visible to the naked eye. Tip of each leg has 3 claws (like most web-based spiders do).

Body:

Abdomen of both genders is cylindrical and elongated. Pregnant females will exhibit a more spherical abdomen. Abdomen color is an overall grayish-brown with occasional translucent areas and patches of dark gray and beige. Cephalothorax is beige with two dark gray markings in the center.

*There is a persistent rumor that this spider (or others in the same family) has the most potent venom of all spiders. However, there has never been a single shred of scientific evidence to back this up. It is merely one of the many spider myths that are floating around out there. One hypothesis is that it started because of observations that cellar spiders (family Pholcidae) are able to catch and eat black widows (genus Latrodectus). However, the cellar spider venom is really not very potent, even for insects." - www.spiders.us

Text and Information credit and for more detailed information, read here: http://www.spiders.us/species/pholcus-phalangioides/