Cellar Spider, Daddy Long-Legs Spider, Skull Spider
Pholcus phalangioides
Family Pholcidae (Cellar Spiders), Order Araneae. Key family characteristics include extremely long, delicate legs and an oval or elongated abdomen.
Physical Description
The spider has a small, pale, somewhat translucent body with an elongated oval abdomen and a distinct cephalothorax that often features a dark, skull-like marking pattern. Its legs are disproportionately long and extremely thin.
Size Estimate
Body length ranges from 7 to 10 millimeters, with a leg span that can reach up to 5 to 7 centimeters.
Coloration & Markings
Pale gray, yellowish, or light brown overall, often with translucent qualities. The cephalothorax typically bears a dark grayish or brownish marking.
Web Type
Irregular, messy tangle webs or space webs built in dark, damp corners, cellars, crawl spaces, and upper corners of rooms.
Eye Arrangement
Eight eyes grouped closely together on a raised turret on the cephalothorax, consisting of a triad on each side and a pair of smaller median eyes.
Leg Characteristics
Extremely long, thread-like, and delicate legs with slight flexibility. When disturbed, the spider shakes its web rapidly to become a blur.
Venom & Safety Information
Venom Information
Neurotoxic venom tailored for small arthropods. Despite urban legends, their venom is not medically dangerous to humans, and their fangs are rarely capable of piercing human skin.
Medical Significance
Harmless to humans. Bites are extremely rare, essentially painless if they occur, and result in no significant medical complications.
Safety Recommendations
No special safety measures required as they are completely harmless. If unwanted, gently relocate them outdoors using a cup and a piece of paper.
Habitat & Behavior
Habitat & Range
Cosmopolitan distribution worldwide, heavily associated with human habitations, dark indoor spaces, cellars, garages, and sheltered outdoor overhangs.
Behavior & Temperament
Docile and non-aggressive. When threatened, it exhibits a characteristic 'vibrating' or 'spinning' defense behavior to confuse predators.
Diet & Prey
Insects and other spiders, including medically significant species like redbacks and widows, which they hunt by wrapping them quickly with silk from a safe distance.
Seasonal Activity
Active year-round indoors, though reproduction and mobility peak during the warmer spring and summer months.
Description
The cellar spider is a familiar indoor neighbor known for its gossamer web structures and exceptionally long legs. Though frequently misunderstood due to urban legends, these beneficial arachnids act as natural pest controllers inside homes.
Key Features
Extremely long, thin legs, pale translucent body, irregular tangle web, and the signature rapid body-shaking defense mechanism when disturbed.
Similar Species
Harvestmen (Opiliones, which are not true spiders and lack silk glands or constricted waists) and other cellar spider species (Holocnemus pluchei).
Life Cycle
Females carry eggs in a loose silk cluster held in their chelicerae until they hatch. Spiderlings undergo several molts to reach adulthood, with a typical lifespan of up to three years.
Ecological Importance
Serves as an effective indoor predator keeping populations of flies, mosquitoes, and other household pests in check.
Conservation Status
Not evaluated by the IUCN, highly abundant and widespread globally due to commensalism with humans.
Interesting Facts
Cellar spiders are famous for hunting and defeating larger, venomous spiders like widow spiders by using their long reach and wrapping prey with silk before approaching.
Photography Tips
Use macro lenses with good side-lighting to capture the translucent details of the body and the intricate structure of the tangle web against a dark background.
Identified: 2026-08-22T22:18:07.990455