![]() Males perform rhythmic movements of their intromittent organs during copulation, which results in extrusion of most of the sperm already in the uterus externa.Īfter a female lays her eggs, she wraps them in silk strands and carries the package in her chelicera (jaws), located on the underside of her body. This is because of a mechanism of sperm removal during mating. However, the sperm of the last male mated with has priority in fertilizing the eggs. If this occurs, the sperm from the two males mixes in the uterus externa. Because the sperm are stored for some period of time, it is possible for a female to mate again. Timing of fertilization and laying depends on the availability of food. Females can store the sperm in a special cavity at the beginning of the uterus, called the uterus externus, until it is time for her eggs to be fertilized. During mating, which can take several hours, the male deposits his sperm into the female's epigynum, which is an opening on the underside of her abdomen. ( Uhl, November 1998)īefore mating, a male spider deposits some sperm onto a little web, and then sucks it into a special cavity within his pedipalp. This may increase reproductive success for males, because large females produce more eggs than smaller females. phalangioides seemed to be attracted to and to mate with larger females more often than smaller females. In studies done by Gabriele Uhl at the University of Bonn, male P. The young spiders then leave the maternal web, and go look for a place to build their own webs. phalangioides watches over her newly hatched young (prenymphs) for about nine days until the prenymphs shed their skins to become little spiders. There are eight eyes: two small eyes in front of the two triads of larger eyes.įemales are seven to eight millimeters in length and males are six millimeters.īecause of the translucent quality of this animal, using a microscope it is possible to see the moving blood cells in the legs and body of a living animal. A translucent line marks the dorsal vessel. The head is a darker color around the eyes. ![]() These spiders are covered with fine gray hairs. The body and legs are almost translucent. Pholcus phalangioides is pale yellow-brown except for a large gray patch in the center of the cephalothorax. Pholcus phalangioides hangs upside down on the web it makes. Their webs are normally oriented horizontally. They make their webs large, loose, and flat, but they can make them in irregular shapes to fit into surrounding objects. People most often associate these spiders with living on ceilings and in corners in homes. ![]() Some places one might encounter this spider are in basements, under stones, under ledges, and in caves. Pholcus phalangiodes can be found in undisturbed, low light locations. It is a common cellar spider throughout the United States. If you are dealing with cellar spider problems in your home, contact your local spider exterminators.Pholcus phalangioides is found throughout the world. They continuously add to it, creating large amounts of webbing which becomes a nuisance to remove and an eyesore in homes and commercial buildings. Many species of spiders consume their old web before making a new one, but cellar spiders do not. Cellar spiders are considered nuisance pests, due to the large amounts of webbing they produce. Historically, cellar spiders are not known to bite humans and, therefore, do not pose a health threat. Cellar Spider Behaviors, Threats, or DangersĪlthough cellar spiders do have venom, they aren’t a cause for concern. ![]() Male and female cellar spiders may be found in climate-controlled structures year-round. Cellar spiders build irregular messy webs and are highly sensitive to vibrations and will close in on an unsuspecting insect rapidly if it happens to wander into its web. Indoors, are often found in damp cellars, basements, crawl spaces, garages, and dark, quiet places. In nature, cellar spiders usually live in the openings of caves, or crevices in cliffs, and other protected places. Cellar spiders are the natural enemy of large house spiders that live in homes, and will also feed on flies, bees, wasps, and even other cellar spiders when food is scarce. These spiders can be seen in corners and ceilings, usually hanging belly-up. Some species of cellar spiders are very common in homes, especially in garages, basements, and cellars, hence the common name. They are sometimes referred to as daddy longlegs spiders, which are quite different and unrelated. Cellar spiders are inconspicuous, harmless, fragile spiders with extremely long, thin legs.
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