Pholcus phalangioides: Where It Lives, Map & Facts

Where the pholcus phalangioides lives – recorded in 26 countries, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.

Scientific name	Pholcus phalangioides
Group	Spiders, scorpions & other arachnids
Found in	26 countries
Continents	Europe, North America, Oceania, South America
Class	Arachnid
Order	Araneida
Family	Pholcidae

Where does the pholcus phalangioides live?

Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the pholcus phalangioides in 26 countries and territories across Europe, North America, Oceania and South America. Wikidata gives its range as: Texas, Thisted Municipality. In Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, United Kingdom, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Sweden it is listed as introduced (GRIIS checklists via GBIF).

Germany
France (introduced)
United Kingdom (introduced)
Belgium (introduced)
Sweden (introduced)
United States
Denmark (introduced)
Switzerland
Australia
New Zealand
Canada (introduced)
Portugal (introduced)
Austria (introduced)
Argentina
Italy (introduced)
Norway
Hungary
Spain
Brazil
Ireland
Netherlands (introduced)
Finland
Romania (introduced)
Czech Republic
Luxembourg
Greece

Countries with at least a handful of records (a minimum share of the species’ records, to leave out vagrants and escapes). Records with coordinates only; captive and fossil records excluded.

What kind of animal is the pholcus phalangioides?

The pholcus phalangioides (Pholcus phalangioides) is an arachnid in the order Araneida and the family Pholcidae, genus Pholcus. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)

About the pholcus phalangioides

Pholcus phalangioides, commonly known as the cosmopolitan cellar spider, long-bodied cellar spider, or one of various types called a daddy long-legs spider, is a spider of the family Pholcidae. It was first described in 1775 by the Swiss entomologist Johann Kaspar Füssli (his surname is also spelled Fuesslin) as Aranea phalangoides. Its common name of "daddy long-legs" should not be confused with a different arachnid group with the same common name, the harvestman (Opiliones), or the crane flies of the superfamily Tipuloidea.

Females have a body length of about 8 mm while males tend to be slightly smaller. The length of the spider's legs are on average 5 or 6 times the length of its body. Pholcus phalangioides has a habit of living on the ceilings of rooms, caves, garages or cellars.

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Pholcus phalangioides (revision 1376341564), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q1164137 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).