Harvestmen do not have silk glands, so they cannot spin webs they also lack the venom glands that true spiders possess. Long-bodied Cellar Spider - Pholcus phalangioides - Thompson Falls, Sanders County, Montana, USA OctoSize: under 10 mm. Identification, Images, & Information For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin. Short-bodied cellar spiders are smaller, with a. An online resource devoted to North American insects, spiders and their kin, offering identification, images, and information.
Among the obvious structural differences are harvestmen’s having one apparently unified (usually egg-shaped) body, while true spiders have clearly separate head and abdomen regions. Long-bodied cellar spiders have bodies that are 7 to 8 millimeters long and front legs can be between 45 to 50 millimeters long. Similar species: Though they also have long, thin legs and are also often called daddy longlegs, harvestmen (in order Opiliones) are quite different and unrelated. To distinguish it from other cellar spiders may require close examination of palps, “face” structure, carapace markings, and eye groupings. Perhaps the most common species in our area is the longbodied cellar spider, Pholcus phalangioides. Therefore, the most common spiders are the long-bodied cellar species.
On the other hand, the male short-bodied cellar spiders are about 1.6 mm long, with front legs that are 9.5 mm long. Many common spiders in this family have 8 eyes arranged into three groups: 2 in the center of the face, and a cluster of 3 on each side of the central pair. In the same way, the female short-bodied cellar spiders are about 2 mm long, having front legs that are 8.5 mm in length. Most have oval or rounded abdomens, sometimes described as “peanut shaped.” Females build nonadhesive, unorganized, messy-looking cobwebs, usually in corners or crevices. Some species have darkened joints on their legs, giving them a “knobby-kneed” look. This movement turns them into a blur, rendering them practically invisible to potential predators. Other characteristics add to their camouflage: Their gray, tan, or whitish color, small body size, and remarkable habit of “vibrating” or bouncing rapidly in their webs when alarmed. Wolf spiders commonly occur in grass or under stones, logs, or leaf litter. The largest has a body about 2.5 cm (1 inch) long and legs about the same length. The tarsi (“feet”) are flexible, adding to the wispy impression they give. Wolf spider, also called ground spider or hunting spider is named for the wolf-like habit of chasing and pouncing upon prey.
Cellar spiders are inconspicuous, harmless, fragile spiders with extremely long, thin legs.