Id on spider please. Widow?

[Scorpiove]

Hi everyone just wondering what type of spider this is and if it is dangerous or not. thanks!

 

[Blackrose]

Hi

We got a spider here in Germany called Zitterspinne (Pholcus phalangioides) that can be found everywhere and there are so many of them.
Maybe they live in your region too!

Greets
Andi

 

[JJJoshua]

Looks like a cellar spider to me. I have these all over my house. Pretty fun to throw ants into their webs!

 

[Endora]

Usually Widows have a red hour glass on their abdomen. BUt i don'T think that i can help you any further with the identification of this spider. Hope i helped somewhat.

 

[JJJoshua]

Usually Widows have a red hour glass on their abdomen. BUt i don'T think that i can help you any further with the identification of this spider. Hope i helped somewhat.

Not all widows do though.

 

[Scorpiove]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I don't think its a cellar spider or "daddy long legs" for that matter. Its carapace is pretty big. You can easily see it with your naked eye. The spider is just a tad smaller than a black widow. legs are just a bit skinnier. This isn't one of those leggy small bodied spiders. It just looks that way in the pic. I blew on it a bit to try to get it to sit in one place and it almost looked as if it reared up.

It also had its butt in the air and when I touched its leg with my finger it put all of its legs together and fell sideways. Not really a death curl type thing but it was pretending to be dead. So I tapped it again and it got back up. then I tapped it again and this time it dead the actual fake death curl. Pretty neat. I ended up letting it go in the front yard by some flowers.

Edit: Hmmm well I realize different regions have different common names so perhaps it is your "cellar spider", but it woudln't be mine

 

[NRF]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I don't think its a cellar spider or "daddy long legs" for that matter. Its carapace is pretty big. You can easily see it with your naked eye. The spider is just a tad smaller than a black widow. legs are just a bit skinnier. This isn't one of those leggy small bodied spiders. It just looks that way in the pic. I blew on it a bit to try to get it to sit in one place and it almost looked as if it reared up.

It is in deed a "daddy long leg spider" (Pholcidae), but it is not Pholcus phalangioides. The shape of the abdomen and the markings make it look more like Psilochorus simoni, also a cosmopolitan one. It has a rather globular abdomen with the spinnerets not in the hind end, but ventrally, in the middle of the abdomen. This is easliy seen in lateral view (there might be some other similar species in your area, I don't know about that). But if you say it is as large as a widow you must mean a male

 

[Scorpiove]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I don't think its a cellar spider or "daddy long legs" for that matter. Its carapace is pretty big. You can easily see it with your naked eye. The spider is just a tad smaller than a black widow. legs are just a bit skinnier. This isn't one of those leggy small bodied spiders. It just looks that way in the pic. I blew on it a bit to try to get it to sit in one place and it almost looked as if it reared up.

It is in deed a "daddy long leg spider" (Pholcidae), but it is not Pholcus phalangioides. The shape of the abdomen and the markings make it look more like Psilochorus simoni, also a cosmopolitan one. It has a rather globular abdomen with the spinnerets not in the hind end, but ventrally, in the middle of the abdomen. This is easliy seen in lateral view (there might be some other similar species in your area, I don't know about that). But if you say it is as large as a widow you must mean a male

Its abdomen was close to the size of a female widow. This was a big spider. What we consider "daddy long legs" here in california usually have a body that is about the size of a grain of rice, and very long legs. This spider was big. Wish I could get a size comparison

 

[Gigas]

If it was the size of a widow i assume it would have the adult colourings (black) lack of pigment leads to the assumption of it being some sort of cave dwelling spider so u probably killed it lettting it go in the flowers
doubt very much it was a widow or even dangerous for that matter

 

[NRF]

Its abdomen was close to the size of a female widow. This was a big spider. What we consider "daddy long legs" here in california usually have a body that is about the size of a grain of rice, and very long legs. This spider was big. Wish I could get a size comparison

Ok. That would make a Pholcid with a leg span of about 4 inches. Psilochorus simoni is a very tiny Pholcid, so it has to be another species. Here you can try to find out which of the other 18 Californian Pholcids are large.
http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~stevelew/lar.html
I still think it belongs to the genus Psilochorus. I don't think pictures of many of them can be googled.

 

[lucanidae]

That violin shape on the carapace is very reminiscent of genus Loxosceles. It's definetly not a brown recluse (not even close) but I might guess at the family; Sicariidae (violin spiders.) I'd guess it's not dangerous. Dosen't look like a pholcid to me. The way it's legs are positioned when walking on the ground is wrong, pholcids are made for walking in webs and look clumsier on the ground.

 

[cacoseraph]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I don't think its a cellar spider or "daddy long legs" for that matter. Its carapace is pretty big. You can easily see it with your naked eye. The spider is just a tad smaller than a black widow. legs are just a bit skinnier. This isn't one of those leggy small bodied spiders. It just looks that way in the pic. I blew on it a bit to try to get it to sit in one place and it almost looked as if it reared up.

It also had its butt in the air and when I touched its leg with my finger it put all of its legs together and fell sideways. Not really a death curl type thing but it was pretending to be dead. So I tapped it again and it got back up. then I tapped it again and this time it dead the actual fake death curl. Pretty neat. I ended up letting it go in the front yard by some flowers.

Edit: Hmmm well I realize different regions have different common names so perhaps it is your "cellar spider", but it woudln't be mine

it's what i would call a cellar spider
i looked it up when i moved to rialto, hadn't really noticed them before when i lived closer to Los Angeles

 

[NRF]

That violin shape on the carapace is very reminiscent of genus Loxosceles. It's definetly not a brown recluse (not even close) but I might guess at the family; Sicariidae (violin spiders.) I'd guess it's not dangerous. Dosen't look like a pholcid to me. The way it's legs are positioned when walking on the ground is wrong, pholcids are made for walking in webs and look clumsier on the ground.

All violins are not occupied by Loxosceles...
http://www.delattinia.de/Psilochorus_simoni.jpg

 

[lucanidae]

Didn't say it was a loxosceles, just said I would guess Sicariidae: the "violin" in that picture you posted is not as well defined as the one in the mystery spider or in the family Sicariidae.

Not a good link, but the best I could find.
http://bugguide.net/node/view/31530

 

[NRF]

Hey, come on. The circular carapace and the long thin legs are is so typical for Pholcidae.

Here is M.J.Roberts (1995) "well defined" interpretation of the "violin" of Psilochorus simoni.

 

[Scorpiove]

Hey everyone I just checked where I found it and there was some pretty heavy webbing. As to what it is you guys are the experts, I'm just saying that this isn't something our family has generally thought of as a daddy long leg. The Daddy long legs I'm use to have a very small body. The size of a grain of rice or smaller and have long legs skinny legs. This was deffinately different enough to get me interested enough to get it. It was behind toilet when I found it. I noticed it only because it was pretty big. But it probably is what you said NRF. You know common names though.... different everywhere.

See this is what I would consider a daddy long leg

http://www.geocities.com/brisbane_weavers/Pholcidae.htm

looks like NRF is right, just different species since the one I found was huge.

http://spiders.zacharoo.com/spidey9.html

 

[Bastian Drolshagen]

hi, i´ve got lots of Pholcus phalangoides in my spider room and the females of that species get really big (for a pholcus). 3 weeks ago I found a gravid female with 1,5cm (~1/2 inch) BL...

 

[BlondeBioMajor]

I would have to agree with NRF. It is most likely from the family Pholcidae. According to the Spiders of North America identification manual there are 12 genera of nearctic Pholcidae and not all of them have small opisthosomas. Two genera of Pholcidae that are found in the western USA and are described as being larger than Pholcus phalangioides are Physocyclus spp. and Artema spp. Physocyclus spp. is described as having a body size greater than 4 mm and Artema atlanta is described as a "very large pholcid with globular abdomen". Unfortunately, I can find no pics online of these genera and there are no other identifying characteristics listed short of dissecting the spider's reproductive structures - LOL. Maybe NRF knows where to find pics of them? (BTW, thanks to NRF for helping me ID my Pholcid spider and telling me where to find an AWESOME ID manual for my research project!!!) :clap: :worship:

 

[misschix0r]

Compared to the cellar spiders I've seen, it does look a bit similar, but I don't think it is one.

It also does not look like a daddy long legs to me, they have pill-shaped abdomens, and this one clearly has more of a round abdomen.

Not sure what kind it is though =/

 

[pitbulllady]

I have a large female Pholcus phalangiodes in a container on my desk at work(since the school won't let me keep tarantulas in my classroom-they can't say much about spiders I find in the building)who now has an eggsac. Prior to her producing the eggsac, she looked EXACTLY like the spider in the photo. It even appears that I can see the eggs inside that one's abdomen. Even after egg-laying, she's still a pretty big girl(the one I have).

pitbulllady