Pholcus opilionoides (Schrank, 1781)
Description
Male
Characters as in female.
Body length male: 4.0-5.0 mmFemale
Epigyne twice as broad as long. Colouration yellowish, prosoma with a darker pattern. Prosoma 1.2 mm long. Sternum grey brownish with a longitudinal light streak and 3 pairs of light spots. Opisthosoma mostly unicoloured.
Body length female: 4.0-5.5 mmAdditional information
Under rocks in free areas, in quarries and in hollow trees, in the ground layer in the forest, also in basements, hangs upside down in irregular webs.
Since a few decades, this species shows some spreading tendencies within Europe. Nevertheless, it shall not be listed as alien or invasive because it is native for Europe.
Troglophile species (Mammola et al., 2022)
Distribution
Phenology
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
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Figures
Pedipalp
(Roberts 1995)
Pedipalp
(Wiehle 1953)
Pedipalp
(Wiehle 1953)
Pedipalp, retrolateral view
(Ponomarev 2005a)
Pedipalp, prolateral view
(Ponomarev 2005a)
Pedipalp
(Breitling 2020)
Pedipalp, prolateral view
(Huber 2011)
Pedipalp, retrolateral view
(Huber 2011)
Pedipalp, retrolateral view
(Kovács & Szinetár 2022)
Paracymbium, frontal view
(Ponomarev 2005a)
Prosoma, dorsal view
(Ponomarev 2005a)
Prosoma, frontal view
(Ponomarev 2005a)
Epigyne
(Roberts 1995)
Epigyne
(Wiehle 1953)
Epigyne, ventral view
(Ponomarev 2005a)
Epigyne
(Huber 2011)
Epigyne
(Huber 2011)
Vulva
(Wiehle 1953)
Vulva, dorsal view
(Ponomarev 2005a)
Vulva, dorsal view
(Huber 2011)
Vulva, dorsal view
(Huber 2011)
Vulva, dorsal view
(Kovács & Szinetár 2022)
Vulva, ventral view
(Kovács & Szinetár 2022)
Prosoma, dorsal view
(Heimer & Nentwig 1991)
Distribution List
"No references" does not mean that the species does not occur in this country, but that we have not yet inserted the reference for it. We are working on it.
References
Arnold K (2001) Beitrag zur Spinnenfauna (Arachnida, Araneae) des Fürstentums Liechtenstein. Berichte der Botanisch-Zoologischen Gesellschaft Liechtenstein-Sargans-Werdenberg 28: 211-244 
Blagoev G, Deltshev C, Lazarov S, Naumova M (2018) The spiders (Araneae) of Bulgaria. Version: August 2018. National Museum of Natural History, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Online at http://www.nmnhs.com/spiders-bulgaria/ (accessed on 10.9.2018)
Bosmans R, Van Keer K (2017) Een herziene soortenlijst van de Belgische spinnen (Araneae). Nieuwsbrief van de Belgische Arachnologische Vereniging 32: 39-69
Bosmans R. (unpubl.) Provisional list of spiders of North Africa. Database excerpt Aug. 2019
Branco V V, Morano E, Cardoso P (2019) An update to the Iberian spider checklist (Araneae). Zootaxa 4614: 201-254
Breitling R (2020) South European spiders from the Duffey collection in the Manchester Museum (Arachnida: Araneae). Arachnology 18: 333-362
Danışman T, Kunt K B, Özkütük R S, Coşar İ (2024a) The checklist of the spiders of Turkey. Version 2024 [last updated 01 January 2024], online at http://www.spidersofturkey.info
Dashkevich M W (2015) [A supplement to the list of spider species (Arachnida, Aranei) of Belarus]. Materials from the conference „Problems of contemporary entomology in Eastern Europe“, pp. 97-99
Deltshev C, Vrenozi B, Blagoev G, Lazarov S (2011b) Spiders of Albania – faunistic and zoogeographical review (Arachnida: Araneae). Acta Zoologica Bulgarica 63: 125-144
Geci D, Naumova M (2021b) A preliminary checklist of the spiders of Kosovo (Arachnida: Araneae). Ecologia Balkanica, Special Edition 4: 11-28
Heimer S, Nentwig W (1991) Spinnen Mitteleuropas. Paul Parey Berlin
Huber B A (2011) Revision and cladistic analysis of Pholcus and closely related taxa (Araneae, Pholcidae). Bonner Zoologische Monographien 58: 1-509
Komnenov M (2010) Checklist of spiders (Araneae) of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Uzizaž i Biospeld 5(2009): 52-69
Komnenov M (2014) Spider fauna of the Osogovo Mt. Range, Northeastern Macedonia. Fauna Balkana 2: 1-267
Kostanjšek R, Kuntner M (2015) Araneae Sloveniae: a national spider species checklist. ZooKeys 474: 1-91
Kovács G, Szinetár C (2022) Adatok a kis álkaszáspók (Pholcus opilionoides [Schrank, 1781]) biológiájához (Araneae: Pholcidae) [Data on the biology of Pholcus opilionoides (Schrank, 1781) (Araneae: Pholcidae)]. Biológia Savaria Természettudományi és Sporttudományi Közlemények 20: 49-67
Kreuels M, Staudt A, Christian S (2019) Die Spinnenfauna von Luxemburg – eine Zusammenstellung der Nachweise aus den Jahren 1906-2018 (Arachnida: Araneae). Bulletin de la Société des naturalistes luxembourgeois 121: 203-230
Le Peru B (2007) Catalogue et répartition des araignées de France. Revue Arachnologique 16: 1-468
Mammola S, Pavlek M, Huber B A, Ballarin F, Tolve M, Čupić I, Hesselberg T, Lunghi E, Mouron S, Graco-Roza C, Cardoso P (2022) A trait database and updated checklist for European subterranean spiders. Scientific Data 9(236): 1-13
Milosevic B (2002) Aranea – Popis vrsta – Checklist. Hrvatsko entomološko društvo – Inventar entomofaune Hrvatske [Aranea – List of species – Checklist. Croatian Entomological Society – Inventory of Croatian entomofauna].
Naumova M, Lazarov S, Deltshev C (2019a) Faunistic diversity of the spiders in Montenegro (Arachnida: Araneae). Ecologica Montenegrina 22: 50-89
Otto S (2022) Caucasian spiders. A faunistic database on the spiders of the Caucasus Ecoregion. Database version 02.2022. Internet: caucasus-spiders.info.
Pantini P, Isaia M (2019) Araneae.it: the online catalog of Italian spiders, with addenda on other arachnid orders occurring in Italy (Arachnida: Araneae, Opiliones, Palpigradi, Pseudoscorpionida, Scorpiones, Solifugae). Fragmenta Entomologica 51: 127-152
Pfliegler W A, Schönhofer A, Niedbała W, Vella P, Sciberras A, Vella A (2017) New records of mites (Acari) and harvestmen (Opiliones) from Malta with a preliminary checklist of Maltese Arachnida. Soil Organisms 89: 85-110
Polchaninova N, Prokopenko E (2019) An updated checklist of spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) of Left-Bank Ukraine. Arachnologische Mitteilungen 57: 60-64 & App
Ponomarev A V (2005a) New and interesting finds of spiders (Aranei) in the southeast of Europe. Vestnik Yuzhnogo Nauchnogo Tsentra Rossijskaja Akademija Nauk, Rostov 1(4): 43-50
Ponomarev A V (2022) Spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) of the southeast of the Russian Plain: catalogue, the fauna specific features. SSC RAS Publishers, Rostov-on-Don, 640 pp.
Roberts M J (1995) Collins Field Guide: Spiders of Britain & Northern Europe. HarperCollins, London, 383 pp.
Rozwałka R, Stanska M (2008) Check-list of spiders (Araneae) of Poland. 1. December 2008. online at http://www.arachnologia.edu.pl/en/species/8-spiders-of-poland.html
Růžička V, Řezáč M (2022a) Seznam pavouků České republiky. List of spiders of the Czech Republic. Online at https://www.arachnology.cz/seznam-pavouku-cr-26.html and https://www.arachnology.cz/en/seznam-pavouku-cr-26.html
Samu F, Szinetár C (1999) Bibliographic check list of the Hungarian spider fauna. Bulletin of the British Arachnological Society 11: 161-184
Vasiliev A I, Mikhailov K G (2023) Annotated checklist of spiders (Araneae) of the Republic of Moldova. Invertebrate Zoology 20: 307-342
Wiehle H (1953) Spinnentiere oder Arachnoidea (Araneae), IX. Orthognatha-Cribellata-Haplogynae, Entelegynae (Pholcidae, Zodariidae, Oxyopidae, Mimetidae, Nesticidae). Die Tierwelt Deutschlands 42: 1-150
WSC (2024) World Spider Catalog. Version 25.0. Natural History Museum Bern, online at http://wsc.nmbe.ch (22.01.2024) doi: 10.24436/2
Updates
| 31-05-2022 | Gallery image insert | |
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| 08-03-2022 | Distribution insert | Detail |
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| 20-06-2021 | Distribution insert | Detail |
| 05-10-2020 | Distribution update | Detail |
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| 08-06-2020 | Distribution update | Detail |
| 06-05-2020 | Distribution update | Detail |
| 28-11-2019 | Distribution update | Detail |
| 24-09-2015 | Distribution update | Detail |
| 04-12-2013 | Distribution update | Detail |
| 01-12-2013 | Distribution update | Detail |
| 15-10-2013 | Distribution update | Detail |
| 10-09-2013 | Image insert |