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Pholcidae  C. L. Koch, 1850 / Pholcus  Walckenaer, 1805   15 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. 2018b)

Distribution
  Presence
  No data
Distribution comment: Estonia, Mart Meriste (pers. comm.), common in houses and cellars
Global distribution (WSC 2023): 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
(Brændegaard 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 Epigyne
(Taberlet unpubl.)

species

female Vulva
(Wiehle 1953)

species

female Vulva, anterior view
(Taberlet unpubl.)

species

female Vulva, dorsal view
(Taberlet unpubl.)

species

female Vulva, ventral view
(Taberlet unpubl.)

species

female Habitus
(Locket & Millidge 1951)

species

Prosoma, dorsal view
(Heimer & Nentwig 1991)

species

Eyes, frontal view
(Brændegaard 1966)

species

Chelicerae, ventral view
(Locket & Millidge 1951)

Distribution List
Albania   (no references) ||| Algeria   (Bosmans, unpubl.) ||| Armenia   (Zarikian & Kalashian, 2021) ||| Austria   (no references) ||| Azerbaijan   (Otto, 2022) ||| Belarus   (Ivanov, 2013) ||| Belgium   (no references) ||| Bosnia and Herzegovina   (Komnenov, 2010) ||| Bulgaria   (Blagoev et al., 2018) ||| Croatia   (no references) ||| Cyprus   (Bosmans et al., 2019c) ||| Czechia   (no references) ||| Denmark   (no references) ||| Egypt   (Bosmans, unpubl.) ||| Estonia   (no references) ||| Faroe Islands   (Lissner et al., 2016b) ||| Finland   (Koponen et al., 2016) ||| France   (no references) ||| France / Corsica   (no references) ||| Georgia   (Otto, 2022) ||| Germany   (no references) ||| Greece   (no references) ||| Greece / Crete   (no references) ||| Hungary   (Samu & Szinetár, 1999) ||| Ireland   (Lavery, 2019) ||| Italy   (Pantini & Isaia, 2019) ||| Italy / Sardinia   (Pantini & Isaia, 2019) ||| Italy / Sicily   (Pantini & Isaia, 2019) ||| Kosovo   (Geci & Naumova, 2021b) ||| Latvia   (Cera, 2018) ||| Libya   (Bosmans, unpubl.) ||| Liechtenstein   (no references) ||| Lithuania   (no references) ||| Luxembourg   (Kreuels et al., 2019) ||| Malta   (Pfliegler et al., 2017) ||| Moldova   (no references) ||| Montenegro   (no references) ||| Morocco   (Huber, 2011) ||| Netherlands   (no references) ||| North Macedonia   (no references) ||| Northern Ireland   (Lavery, 2019) ||| Norway   (Farlund, 2019) ||| Poland   (no references) ||| Portugal   (Branco et al., 2019) ||| Romania   (no references) ||| Russia, Central   (no references) ||| Russia, Eastern   (no references) ||| Russia, Northern   (no references) ||| Russia, Southern   (Otto, 2022) ||| Russia, Western   (no references) ||| Serbia   (no references) ||| Slovakia   (no references) ||| Slovenia   (Kostanjšek & Kuntner, 2015) ||| Spain   (Branco et al., 2019) ||| Spain / Balearic Islands   (Branco et al., 2019) ||| Sweden   (Kronestedt, 2001) ||| Switzerland   (no references) ||| Tunisia   (Bosmans, unpubl.) ||| Turkey (Asia)   (Danışman et al., 2022) ||| Turkey (Europe)   (Danışman et al., 2022) ||| Ukraine   (Polchaninova & Prokopenko, 2019) ||| United Kingdom   (Lavery, 2019) |||
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) pdf

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

Branco V V, Morano E, Cardoso P (2019) An update to the Iberian spider checklist (Araneae). Zootaxa 4614: 201-254 pdf

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

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 (2022) The checklist of the spiders of Turkey. Version 2022 [last updated 24 August 2022], online at http://www.spidersofturkey.info pdf

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

Farlund M (2019) Norwegian Spiders - Norske edderkopper. Siste oppdatering for funn av nye arter 10. oktober, 2019. Online at http://crocea.wordpress.com/norsk-artsliste/ pdf

Geci D, Naumova M (2021b) A preliminary checklist of the spiders of Kosovo (Arachnida: Araneae). Ecologia Balkanica, Special Edition 4: 11-28 pdf

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

Huber B A (2011) Revision and cladistic analysis of Pholcus and closely related taxa (Araneae, Pholcidae). Bonner Zoologische Monographien 58: 1-509 pdf

Ivanov V V (2013) The checklist of Belarusian spiders (Arachnida, Araneae). Zoology and Ecology 4: 293-311 pdf

Komnenov M (2010) Checklist of spiders (Araneae) of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Uzizaž i Biospeld 5(2009): 52-69 pdf

Koponen S, Fritzén N R, Pajunen T (2016) Checklist of spiders in Finland (Araneae). 6th version, December 2016, online at http://biolcoll.utu.fi/arach/checklist_of_spiders_in_Finland.htm pdf

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 pdf

Kreuels M, Staudt A, Christian S (2019) Die Spinnenfauna von Luxemburg – eine Zusammenstellung der Nachweise aus den Jahren 1906-2018 (Arachnida: Araneae). Bulletin de la Société des naturalistes luxembourgeois 121: 203-230 pdf

Kronestedt T (2001) Checklist of Spiders (Araneae) in Sweden [Preliminary version February 2001] pdf

Lavery A (2019) A revised checklist of the spiders of Great Britain and Ireland. Arachnology 18: 196-212 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. Vol. I. Ray Society, London, 310 pp. pdf

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 (2022) Caucasian spiders. A faunistic database on the spiders of the Caucasus Ecoregion. Database version 02.2022. 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). 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) Collins Field Guide: Spiders of Britain & Northern Europe. HarperCollins, London, 383 pp. pdf

Samu F, Szinetár C (1999) Bibliographic check list of the Hungarian spider fauna. Bulletin of the British Arachnological Society 11: 161-184 pdf

Taberlet J-P (unpubl.)

Wiehle H (1953) Spinnentiere oder Arachnoidea (Araneae), IX. Orthognatha-Cribellata-Haplogynae, Entelegynae (Pholcidae, Zodariidae, Oxyopidae, Mimetidae, Nesticidae). Die Tierwelt Deutschlands 42: 1-150 pdf

WSC (2022) World Spider Catalog. Version 23.5. Natural History Museum Bern, online at http://wsc.nmbe.ch (21.07.2022) doi: 10.24436/2 pdf

Zarikian N A, Kalashian M Y (2021) An annotated checklist of spiders deposited in the Arachnida collection of the Institute of Zoology, Scientific Center of Zoology and Hydroecology of the NAS RA, Yerevan, Armenia. Part I. Arachnologische Mitteilungen 61: 11-19 pdf

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