Long-bodied Cellar Spider
Pholcus phalangioides
- Order & Family
- Order: Araneae, Family: Pholcidae
- Size
- Body length is typically 6-9 mm, but legs can span up to 5-6 cm.
Natural Habitat
Typically found indoors in dark, quiet corners like basements, cellars, attics, and garages. In nature, they live in caves and under rocks.
Diet & Feeding
Carnivorous; feeds on other insects and spiders. They are known to invade the webs of other spiders, even dangerous ones like widows or huntsmen, to prey on them.
Behavior Patterns
They construct loose, irregular 'cobwebs' in corners. When threatened, they exhibit a unique defense behavior of violently vibrating or whirling in their web to become a blur, making them harder for predators to catch (giving them the nickname 'vibrating spider').
Risks & Benefits
Benefits: highly beneficial as pest control, eating mosquitoes, flies, ants, and other spiders. Risks: Harmless to humans. While a common urban myth suggests they are extremely venomous but have fangs too small to bite, their venom is actually relatively weak and not dangerous to humans.