Harvestman cellar spider
Pholcus opilionoides
The harvestman cellar spider is a small spider with very long, thin legs. With those legs it looks a lot like a harvestman. But look closely: its body has two parts, so it is a real spider.
Fun fact: spiders are not insects. Insects have six legs, spiders have eight. Everyone calls them bugs anyway!
Lives in
Europe, Egypt and the Caucasus, in and around buildings and among rocks
Length
3 to 5 mm (0.12 to 0.2 in)
What does it eat?
It catches small insects and other little creatures in its loose, messy web.
How big is it?
How long is it?
💅small enough to sit on your fingernail🍽️could run across a dinner table in 4.2 seconds⚡moves 47 times its own body length every second
How big is Harvestman cellar spider compared to YOU?
Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
How fast is it?
A tortoise about 0.3 km/h (0.19 mph)
Harvestman cellar spider about 0.85 km/h (0.53 mph)
A person walking about 5 km/h (3.1 mph)
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
Its body is only 3 to 5 millimetres long, but its legs are much longer.
2
Its front body part is round and light brown, with a darker stripe down the middle.
3
It is easy to mix up with its bigger cousin, the long-bodied cellar spider that often lives in houses.
you asked
Most asked questions about Harvestman cellar spider
?Is the harvestman cellar spider a harvestman?
No. It only looks like one. Its body has two parts, like all spiders.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Pholcus opilionoides
- Group
- Spiders
- Family
- Pholcidae
- Classification
- Arachnida > Araneae > Pholcidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Africa, Asia
Where the facts come from
- Pholcus opilionoides (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Ivo Antušek. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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