![]() ![]() ![]() Sweeping is not likely to kill the spiders, but pyrethroid insecticides provide excellent knockdown and control. Reduction of other insects in and around a home will reduce the food available to the spiders, and removal of debris and lumber piles will help to reduce harborage sites. Reduction of outdoor lighting or changing white light bulbs to yellow will help to attract fewer night-flying insects and thus reduce the spider populations.Pholcus phalangioides is found throughout the world. It is a common cellar spider throughout the United States. Pholcus phalangiodes can be found in undisturbed, low light locations. Some places one might encounter this spider are in basements, under stones, under ledges, and in caves. People most often associate these spiders with living on ceilings and in corners in homes. They make their webs large, loose, and flat, but they can make them in irregular shapes to fit into surrounding objects. Their webs are normally oriented horizontally. Pholcus phalangioides hangs upside down on the web it makes. Pholcus phalangioides is pale yellow-brown except for a large gray patch in the center of the cephalothorax. The body and legs are almost translucent. These spiders are covered with fine gray hairs. The head is a darker color around the eyes. A translucent line marks the dorsal vessel. There are eight eyes: two small eyes in front of the two triads of larger eyes.įemales are seven to eight millimeters in length and males are six millimeters.īecause of the translucent quality of this animal, using a microscope it is possible to see the moving blood cells in the legs and body of a living animal. Phalangioides watches over her newly hatched young (prenymphs) for about nine days until the prenymphs shed their skins to become little spiders. The young spiders then leave the maternal web, and go look for a place to build their own webs. In studies done by Gabriele Uhl at the University of Bonn, male P. phalangioides seemed to be attracted to and to mate with larger females more often than smaller females. This may increase reproductive success for males, because large females produce more eggs than smaller females. ![]() ( Uhl, November 1998)īefore mating, a male spider deposits some sperm onto a little web, and then sucks it into a special cavity within his pedipalp. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |