Pholcus

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Pholcus is a large genus of spiders of long-bodied cellar spider and allies in the family Pholcidae.[1]

It includes the cellar spider P. phalangioides, often called the "daddy longlegs".[2] This may cause confusion because the name "daddy longlegs" is also applied to two other unrelated arthropods: the harvestman and the crane fly.

Description

Pholcus, like Pholcidae in general, have extremely long and thin legs.[3] The genus can be distinguished from other pholcid genera by its large size (body length >4 mm), eight eyes, evenly domed prosoma (lacking a median furrow or pit) and cylindrical opisthosoma (longer than it is high).[4]

Habitat

In the wild, Pholcus live in environments such as caves, under rocks, forest shrubs and deep limestone cracks. Synanthropic species such as P. phalangioides live in and around buildings and other disturbed habitats.[5]

Species

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As of October 2025, this genus includes 432 species.[1]

These species have pages on Wikipedia:

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Identification resources

References

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  1. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Gen. Pholcus Walckenaer, 1805". World Spider Catalog. doi:10.24436/2. Retrieved 2025-10-18.
  2. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Species Pholcus phalangioides - Longbodied Cellar Spider". bugguide.net. Retrieved 2022-09-16.
  3. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."araneae - Key to families". araneae.nmbe.ch. Retrieved 2022-08-08.
  4. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."araneae - Pholcidae". araneae.nmbe.ch. Retrieved 2022-08-08.
  5. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Genus Pholcus". bugguide.net. Retrieved 2022-09-16.

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