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Pholcidae  C. L. Koch, 1850 / Pholcus  Walckenaer, 1805   14 species

Pholcus phalangioides  (Fuesslin, 1775)

WSC LSID urn:lsid:nmbe.ch:spidersp:003744

Key to genera | Key to species

Description
Male

Prosoma pale yellowish brown with dark grey pattern. Opisthosoma often with paired, dark spots.

Body length male: 7-10 mm
Female

Epigyne 4 times as broad as long. Prosoma light brownish yellow with darker pattern. Prosoma 2.5-3 mm long. Sternum often uniformly whitish. Opisthosoma often with pairs of light spots.

Body length female: 7-8 mm
Additional information

Hangs upside down in irregular webs. Originally a cave species, widely distributed in Europe today and frequent in buildings.

This species of Asian origin is not native to Europe (alien species). It had been introduced to Europe at least once and did establish.

Troglophile species (Mammola et al. 2018)

Distribution
  Presence
  No data
Distribution comment: Estonia, Mart Meriste (pers. comm.), common in houses and cellars
Global distribution (WSC 2020): Western Asia. Introduced to both Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and numerous islands.
Phenology
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
 male  female
Up to 3 years old.
Figures
species

male Pedipalp
(Wiehle 1953)

species

male Pedipalp
(Locket & Millidge 1951)

species

male Pedipalp, ventral view
(Roberts 1995)

species

male Pedipalp
(Wiehle 1953)

species

male Pedipalp
(Kovács & Szinetár 2016)

species

female Epigyne
(Braendegaard 1966)

species

female Epigyne
(Roberts 1995)

species

female Epigyne
(Wiehle 1953)

species

female Epigyne
(Locket & Millidge 1951)

species

female Epigyne
(Kovács & Szinetár 2016)

species

female Epigyne
(Dolejš 2017)

species

female Epigyne
(Dolejš 2017)

species

female Vulva
(Wiehle 1953)

species

female Habitus
(Locket & Millidge 1951)

species

Prosoma, dorsal view
(Heimer & Nentwig 1991)

species

Eyes, frontal view
(Braendegaard 1966)

species

Chelicerae, ventral view
(Locket & Millidge 1951)

Distribution List
Albania   ( no references ) ||| Algeria   ( no references ) ||| Austria   ( no references ) ||| Azerbaijan   ( no references ) ||| Belarus   ( no references ) ||| Belgium   ( no references ) ||| Bosnia and Herzegovina   ( no references ) ||| Bulgaria   ( no references ) ||| Croatia   ( no references ) ||| Cyprus   ( no references ) ||| Czechia   ( no references ) ||| Denmark   ( no references ) ||| Egypt   ( no references ) ||| Estonia   ( no references ) ||| Faroe Islands   ( no references ) ||| Finland   ( no references ) ||| France   ( no references ) ||| France / Corsica   ( no references ) ||| Georgia   ( no references ) ||| Germany   ( no references ) ||| Greece   ( no references ) ||| Greece / Crete   ( no references ) ||| Hungary   ( no references ) ||| Ireland   ( no references ) ||| Italy   ( no references ) ||| Italy / Sardinia   ( no references ) ||| Italy / Sicily   ( no references ) ||| Latvia   ( no references ) ||| Libya   ( no references ) ||| Liechtenstein   ( no references ) ||| Lithuania   ( no references ) ||| Luxembourg   ( no references ) ||| Malta   ( no references ) ||| Moldova   ( no references ) ||| Montenegro   ( no references ) ||| Netherlands   ( no references ) ||| North Macedonia   ( no references ) ||| Norway   ( no references ) ||| Poland   ( no references ) ||| Portugal   ( no references ) ||| Romania   ( no references ) ||| Russia, Central   ( no references ) ||| Russia, Eastern   ( no references ) ||| Russia, Northern   ( no references ) ||| Russia, Southern   ( no references ) ||| Russia, Western   ( no references ) ||| Serbia   ( no references ) ||| Slovakia   ( no references ) ||| Slovenia   ( no references ) ||| Spain   ( no references ) ||| Spain / Balearic Islands   ( no references ) ||| Sweden   ( no references ) ||| Switzerland   ( no references ) ||| Tunisia   ( no references ) ||| Turkey (Asia)   ( no references ) ||| Turkey (Europe)   ( no references ) ||| Ukraine   ( no references ) ||| United Kingdom   ( no references ) |||
References

Blagoev G, Deltshev C, Lazarov S, Naumova M (2018) The spiders (Araneae) of Bulgaria. Version: August 2018. National Museum of Natural History, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Online at http://www.nmnhs.com/spiders-bulgaria/ (accessed on 10.9.2018)

Bosmans R, Van Keer J, Russell-Smith A, Hadjiconstantis M, Komnenov M, Bosselaers J, Huber S, McCowan D, Snazell R, Decae A, Zoumides C, Kielhorn K-H, Oger P (2019c) Spiders of Cyprus (Araneae). A catalogue of all currently known species from Cyprus. Newsletter of the Belgian Arachnological Society 34, Suppl. 1: 1-173 pdf

Bosmans R. (unpubl.) Provisional list of spiders of North Africa. Database excerpt Aug. 2019

Braendegaard J (1966) Edderkopper: Eller Spindlere I Danmarks Fauna 72: 1-224

Cera I (2018) The checklist of Latvian spiders (Arachnida: Araneae). Environmental and Experimental Biology 16: 139-152 pdf

Danışman T, Kunt K B, Özkütük R S (2019) The checklist of the spiders of Turkey. Version 2019 [last updated 1 June 2019], online at http://www.spidersofturkey.info

Dolejš P (2017) Revize třesavek Pholcus phalangioides v Národním muzeu [Pholcus phalangioides in the National Museum revised]. Pavouk 43: 5-6 pdf

Heimer S, Nentwig W (1991) Spinnen Mitteleuropas. Paul Parey Berlin pdf

Helsdingen P J van (2010a) Araneae. In: Fauna Europaea Database (Version 2010.1), online at www.european-arachnology.org

Kostanjšek R, Kuntner M (2015) Araneae Sloveniae: a national spider species checklist. ZooKeys 474: 1-91 pdf

Kovács G, Szinetár C (2016) Adatok a mintás álkaszáspók [Hoplopholcus forskali (Thorell, 1871)] és a nagy álkaszáspók [Pholcus phalangioides (Fuesslin, 1775)] biológiájához (Araneae: Pholcidae). A Nyme Savaria Egyetemi Központ Tudományos Közleményei XXI. Természettudományok 16: 171-190

Le Peru B (2011) The spiders of Europe, a synthesis of data: Volume 1 Atypidae to Theridiidae. Mémoires de la Société Linnéenne de Lyon 2: 1-522 pdf

Lissner J, Jensen J-K, Hansen L J, Simonsen W, Kelduni R, Nissen K (2016b) An updated checklist of spiders (Araneae) of the Faroe Islands. Norwegian Journal of Entomology 63: 197-240 pdf

Locket G H, Millidge A F (1951) British Spiders 1. Ray Soc London

Mammola S, Cardoso P, Ribera C, Pavlek M, Isaia M (2018b) A synthesis on cave-dwelling spiders in Europe. Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research 56: 301-316 pdf

Otto S (2019) Caucasian spiders. A faunistic database on the spiders of the Caucasus Ecoregion. Database version 10.2019. Internet: caucasus-spiders.info.

Pantini P, Isaia M (2019) Araneae.it: the online Catalog of Italian spiders, with addenda on other Arachnid Orders occurring in Italy (Arachnida: Araneae, Opiliones, Palpigradi, Pseudoscorpionida, Scorpiones, Solifugae). http://araneae.it. Fragmenta Entomologica 51: 127-152 pdf

Pfliegler W A, Schönhofer A, Niedbała W, Vella P, Sciberras A, Vella A (2017) New records of mites (Acari) and harvestmen (Opiliones) from Malta with a preliminary checklist of Maltese Arachnida. Soil Organisms 89: 85-110 pdf

Polchaninova N, Prokopenko E (2019) An updated checklist of spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) of Left-Bank Ukraine. Arachnologische Mitteilungen 57: 60-64 & App pdf

Roberts M J (1995) Spiders of Britain and Northern Europe. Collins Field Guide Bath

Wiehle H (1953) Spinnentiere oder Arachnoidea (Araneae), IX. Orthognatha-Cribellata-Haplogynae, Entelegynae (Pholcidae, Zodariidae, Oxyopidae, Mimetidae, Nesticidae). Tierwelt Deutschlands 42

World Spider Catalog (2019) World Spider Catalog, version 20.5. Natural History Museum Bern, online at http://wsc.nmbe.ch (20.09.2019) doi: 10.24436/2

Updates
05-04-2018 Image insert
14-01-2017 Image insert