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Pholcidae Micropholcus

Micropholcus fauroti (Simon, 1887)

Tiny House Daddy-long-legs

Like Physocyclus globosus. this species has eight eyes, an almost globular abdomen, and is often found indoors. It may however be distinguished by having a lowly domed carapace without an excavation. (In P. globosus, the carapace has a deep furrow.) In both sexes, the carapace has a darkly coloured triangular pattern posteriorly. while the abdomen has some faint spots. The male is easily recognised by a heavily sclerotised, jack-knife looking outgrowth on each palp.

Length♀ 2–3 mm; ♂ 2–3 mm
Type LocalityDjibouti
DistributionCosmopolitan, including Singapore, Malaysia (Penang), Indonesia (West Sumatra, East Java, Bali, Maluku), Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Philippines, Djibouti.
HabitatMostly in and around buildings, and occasionally among forage in secondary forests.

Taxonomy

Type Deposits*

  1. Holotype

    Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (MNRJ), Brazil (database excerpt, August 2019); Leptopholcus occidentalis Mello-Leitão, 1929, (00858); 1 ♀ (destroyed by the fire 2018)

  2. Holotype

    Museo del Instituto de Zoología Agrícola (MIZA), Universidad Central de Venezuela, Maracay, Venezuela; ♂ (105784 = MAGS 1320) of Mariguitaia museorum (Huber & Villarreal, 2020)

  3. Holotype

    Museo del Instituto de Zoología Agrícola (MIZA), Universidad Central de Venezuela, Maracay, Venezuela; ♂ (105772 = MAGS 1003) of Mariguitaia sucrensis (Huber & Villarreal, 2020)

  4. Paratype

    Museo del Instituto de Zoología Agrícola (MIZA), Universidad Central de Venezuela, Maracay, Venezuela; 7♀ (105784 = MAGS 1320) of Mariguitaia museorum (Huber & Villarreal, 2020)

  5. Syntype

    Muséum national d'histoire naturelle (MNHN), Paris, France; 1♂ 1♀ (Deeleman-Reinhold & Prinsen, 1987)

  6. Syntype

    Museo del Instituto de Zoología Agrícola (MIZA), Universidad Central de Venezuela, Maracay, Venezuela; 3♂ 3♀ (105783 = MAGS 1302) of Mariguitaia divergentis (Huber & Villarreal, 2020)

  7. Syntype

    Museo del Instituto de Zoología Agrícola (MIZA), Universidad Central de Venezuela, Maracay, Venezuela; 3♂ 4♀ 4 Juvenile (105588 = MAGS 1156) of Mariguitaia neoespartana (Huber & Villarreal, 2020)

Taxonomic references*

  1. Pholcus fauroti (Original description ♂♀)

    Simon, 1887e Arachnides recueillis à Obock en 1886, par M: 453

  2. Pholcus infirmus (Original description ♀)

    Thorell, 1895b Descriptive catalogue of the spiders of Burma, based upon the collection made by Eugene W. Oates and preserved in the British Museum: 72 doi:10.5962/bhl.title.17492

  3. Pholcus unicolor (Original description ♂♀)

    Petrunkevitch, 1929b The spiders of Porto Rico: 147, f. 139-143

  4. Leptopholcus occidentalis (Original description ♀)

    Mello-Leitão, 1929c Aranhas do Pernambuco, colhidas por D: 95, f. 6

  5. Pholcus senegalensis (Original description ♀)

    Millot, 1941 Les araignées de l'Afrique Occidentale Française - sicariides et pholcides: 14, f. 5 bis A-B

  6. Pholcus chavanei (Original description ♂)

    Millot, 1946a Les pholcides de Madagascar (Aranéides): 130, f. 2A-B

  7. Micromerys occidentalis (Transferred from Leptopholcus)

    Mello-Leitão, 1946a Notas sobre os Filistatidae e Pholcidae: 75

  8. Micropholcus fauroti (♂♀, Transferred from Pholcus, Synonym of Pholcus chavanei, P. infirmus, P. senegalensis and P. unicolor, for P. unicolor confirming Deeleman-Reinhold & Prinsen, 1987 Micropholcus fauroti (Simon) n: 73, f. 1-9

  9. Micropholcus fauroti (♂♀)

    Song, Zhu & Chen, 1999 The spiders of China: 52, f. 22T-Y

  10. Micropholcus fauroti (Synonym of Micromerys occidentalis)

    Huber, 2000 New World pholcid spiders (Araneae: Pholcidae): A revision at generic level: 55, f. 26, 47, 106, 123, 158-159 doi:10.1206/0003-0090(2000)254<0001:NWPSAP>2.0.CO;2

  11. Micropholcus fauroti (♂♀)

    Irie, 2000b A newly recorded spider from Japan, Micropholcus fauroti (Simon 1887) (Araneae: Pholcidae): 215, f. 1-4 doi:10.2476/asjaa.49.215

  12. Micropholcus fauroti (♂♀)

    Van Keer & Van Keer, 2001 Ingeburgerde exotische trilspinnen (Araneae: Pholcidae) in Antwerpse haven en enkele algemene bedenkingen bij spinnenmigratie: 83, f. 4.1-9

  13. Micropholcus fauroti (♀)

    Deeleman-Reinhold & van Harten, 2001 Description of some interesting, new or little known Pholcidae (Araneae) from Yemen: 199, f. 19-20

  14. Micropholcus fauroti (♂♀)

    Saaristo, 2001b Pholcid spiders of the granitic Seychelles (Araneae, Pholcidae): 12, f. 7-15

  15. Mariguitaia sucrensis (Original description ♂)

    González-Sponga, 2004a Arácnidos de Venezuela: 72, pl. 4, f. 1-7

  16. Micropholcus fauroti (♂♀)

    Beatty, Berry & Huber, 2008 The pholcid spiders of Micronesia and Polynesia (Araneae, Pholcidae): 12, f. 21-22, 56-57 doi:10.1636/H05-66.1

  17. Micropholcus fauroti (♂♀)

    Irie, 2009 Pholcidae: 106, f. 6-8

  18. Micropholcus fauroti (Synonym of Mariguitaia divergentis, M. museorum, M. neoespartana and M. occidentalis)

    Huber, 2009a Four new generic and 14 new specific synonymies in Pholcidae, and transfer of Pholcoides Roewer to Filistatidae (Araneae): 66 doi:10.11646/zootaxa.1970.1.3

  19. Micropholcus fauroti (♂♀)

    Saaristo, 2010 Araneae: 163, f. 25.21-30

  20. Micropholcus fauroti (♂♀)

    Huber, 2011b Revision and cladistic analysis of Pholcus and closely related taxa (Araneae, Pholcidae): 26, f. 1, 30-31, 48-49, 83-101

  21. Micropholcus fauroti (♂♀)

    Huber et al., 2017 Aliens in Europe: updates on the distributions of Modisimus culicinus and Micropholcus fauroti (Araneae, Pholcidae): 14, f. 4-7 doi:10.5431/aramit5303

  22. Micropholcus fauroti (♂♀)

    Vishnudas & Sudhikumar, 2021 First report of the small daddy long leg spider Micropholcus fauroti (Simon, 1887) (Araneae: Pholcidae) female from India with redescription of the male: 60, f. 1-8

  23. Micropholcus fauroti (♂♀)

    Huber & Meng, 2024 Old World Micropholcus spiders, with first records of acrocerid parasitoids in Pholcidae (Araneae): 116, f. 16A-C, 17A-E, 18A-D doi:10.3897/zookeys.1213.133178

  24. Micropholcus fauroti (♂)

    Sherwood et al., 2024e Annotated checklist of the spiders of Saint Helena, with new records, descriptions of unknown sexes, new and restored genera, and two new species (Araneae: Araneomorphae): 1251, f. 32A-C doi:10.13156/arac.2024.19.9.1218

  25. Micropholcus fauroti (♂♀)

    Murcia-Moreno & Gálvez, 2025 Introduced spiders in Panama: species distributions and new records: 6, f. 6A-E doi:10.3390/biology14010004

* Retrieved from the World Spider Catalog.

Distribution Map for Micropholcus fauroti (Simon, 1887)

Cosmopolitan, including Singapore, Malaysia (Penang), Indonesia (West Sumatra, East Java, Bali, Maluku), Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Philippines, Djibouti.

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