Pholcus
Pholcus phalangioides
male Pholcus ponticus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Infraorder: Araneomorphae
Family: Pholcidae
Genus: Pholcus
Walckenaer, 1805
Species

P. nagasakiensis
P. okinawaensis
P. phalangioides
P. opilionides
 many more

Diversity
432 species

Pholcus is a large genus of long-bodied cellar spiders and allies that belongs to 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

Main article: List of Pholcidae genera and species Β§ Pholcus

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

These species have pages on Wikipedia:

Identification resources

References

  1. ^ a b "Gen. Pholcus Walckenaer, 1805". World Spider Catalog. doi:10.24436/2. Retrieved 2025-10-18.
  2. ^ "Species Pholcus phalangioides - Longbodied Cellar Spider". bugguide.net. Retrieved 2022-09-16.
  3. ^ "araneae - Key to families". araneae.nmbe.ch. Retrieved 2022-08-08.
  4. ^ "araneae - Pholcidae". araneae.nmbe.ch. Retrieved 2022-08-08.
  5. ^ "Genus Pholcus". bugguide.net. Retrieved 2022-09-16.