Cellar Spider
Scientific Name: Pholcus phalangioides
Order & Family: Order: Araneae, Family: Pholcidae
Size: Body length typically 7-10 mm for females and 6-8 mm for males. Their legs are very long, often 5-6 times their body length, giving them a much larger apparent size, with a leg span up to 5-7 cm.
Natural Habitat
As their common name suggests, cellar spiders are frequently found in cellars, basements, crawl spaces, and other damp, dark, and undisturbed areas. They also inhabit attics, garages, sheds, and sometimes even living areas of homes, especially in corners or behind furniture.
Diet & Feeding
Cellar spiders are predators, primarily feeding on other insects and spiders. They are known to hunt and eat other, often larger, spiders, including venomous ones like the black widow, by attacking them in their own webs.
Behavior Patterns
Cellar spiders are known for building irregular, messy webs in corners of rooms, cellars, and other quiet, undisturbed places. They hang upside down in their webs. When disturbed, they often vibrate rapidly in their web, making themselves appear blurry to predators. They are relatively docile spiders.
Risks & Benefits
Cellar spiders are largely beneficial to humans as they prey on other household pests such as mosquitoes, flies, and other spiders (including venomous ones). Their venom is not considered medically significant to humans, and bites are extremely rare and typically cause only mild, localized reactions, if any. They pose no significant risks.
Identified on: 8/11/2025