The Marbled Cellar Spider ( Holocnemus pluchei) shows brown markings on the abdomen and there is a black stripe on the under side. There are few other smaller patches near the edges of the cephalothorax. The patch on the cephalothorax is much thinner than on Pholcus phalangioides. The sternum is dark grey with a white longitudinal stripe and three white spot on each side. There is a possible confusion with Pholcus opilionoides which is a smaller size (3 to 5.5 mm) and less linked to human buildings. The female carries the fertilized eggs (30 to 40) during 3 weeks in some kind of a silk bag. They feed on any insects they can find within a home, but will also hunt other spiders. Cellar spiders spin loose, messy webs in the corners of rooms, usually where the wall meets the ceiling. You can recognize males with their enlarged pedipalps looking like "boxing gloves". The cellar spider, also known as the daddy long-legs spider, is almost only ever found indoors, where they benefit from a warm, stable temperature. The pale coloured cephalothorax shows a dark central patch cut in two parts by a pale longitudinal line. The abdomen is cylindrical or more spherical depending of food availability and on females full of eggs. Longbodied Cellar spiders are also able to attack other much larger spiders like Tegeneria. Then, dried cocoons are detached from the web and fall down on the ground. They wrap them in a cocoon of silk before eating them. They catch many flying or crawling insects. They vibrate their webs and become almost invisible when they feel threatened. They can also walk down from their web to drink. Longbodied Cellar spiders need humidity, they prefer shadowed areas. The scientific name "pholcus" comes from a Greek word meaning "squinting" because of the location of the eyes which are grouped in two prominent clusters of three eyes plus two small eyes grouped in between. They spin messy, tangled and almost invisible webs. Longbodied Cellar spiders are very common inside buildings where they are protected against cold temperatures. Observation period: All year long for females, spring and summer for males. Females are generally slightly larger than males. They all possess extremely long fragile legs that. Size: Body size: 8-10mm, the size of the legs is about 5.5 times the body size. They are commonly known as tailed cellar spiders, tailed daddy longlegs spiders, and sometimes box spiders. Other names: Longbodied Cellar spider, Daddy Long-Legger, GrandLongbodied Cellar spider, Cellar spider or Vibrating spider. Scientific name: Pholcus phalangioides (Fuesslin, 1775) Longbodied Cellar Spider ( Pholcus phalangioides (Fuesslin, 1775)) Longbodied Cellar Spider (Pholcus phalangioides)
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