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Pholcidae Physocyclus

Physocyclus globosus (Taczanowski, 1874)

Rounded Cellar Spider

The name "globosus" (meaning "round") provides one of the key identification clues of this spider: its pear-shaped abdomen in side view. The eight eyes are borne on a low turret. The darkly coloured clypeus is high and projects forward. The carapace has a deep median longitudinal furrow. and is surrounded by six dark spots near the margin. This feature separates it from Holocneminus multiguttatus. a similar-looking species, but with a deep Y-shaped groove on the carapace.

Length♀ 3–5 mm; ♂ 4 mm
Type LocalityGuyana
DistributionWidespread, including Sri Lanka, Seychelles, United States (Hawaii), Ecuador (Galápagos), Venezuela, Brazil, Guyana, Iran, Australia, Japan, China, Philippines, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore.
HabitatCeilings and neglected corners of houses and urban areas.
BiologyThe web is an irregular tangle.

Taxonomy

Type Deposits*

  1. Holotype

    Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (MNRJ), Brazil (database excerpt, August 2019); Pholcophora juruensis Mello-Leitão, 1922, (00844); 1 ♂ (destroyed by the fire 2018)

  2. Holotype

    Museo del Instituto de Zoología Agrícola (MIZA), Universidad Central de Venezuela, Maracay, Venezuela; ♂ (105781 = MAGS 1290) of Physocyclus boconoensis (Huber & Villarreal, 2020)

  3. Paratype

    Museo del Instituto de Zoología Agrícola (MIZA), Universidad Central de Venezuela, Maracay, Venezuela; 2♀ 5 Juvenile (105781 = MAGS 1290) of Physocyclus boconoensis (Huber & Villarreal, 2020)

  4. Syntype

    Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (MNRJ), Brazil (database excerpt, August 2019); Physocyclus dubius Mello-Leitão, 1922, (00845); 1 ♀ 2 Juvenile (destroyed by the fire 2018)

  5. Syntype

    Museo del Instituto de Zoología Agrícola (MIZA), Universidad Central de Venezuela, Maracay, Venezuela; ~10♂ ~50♀ (105786 = MAGS 1208) of Physocyclus borburatensis (Huber & Villarreal, 2020)

  6. Syntype

    Museo del Instituto de Zoología Agrícola (MIZA), Universidad Central de Venezuela, Maracay, Venezuela; 3♂ 5♀ 9 Juvenile (105692 = MAGS 221) of Physocyclus cariacoensis (Huber & Villarreal, 2020)

  7. Syntype

    Museo del Instituto de Zoología Agrícola (MIZA), Universidad Central de Venezuela, Maracay, Venezuela; 3♂ 2♀ 10j (105745 = MAGS 95) of Physocyclus guatirensis (Huber & Villarreal, 2020)

  8. Syntype

    Museo del Instituto de Zoología Agrícola (MIZA), Universidad Central de Venezuela, Maracay, Venezuela; remains of some totally destroyed types (105750 = MAGS 846) of Physocyclus monaguensis (Huber & Villarreal, 2020)

Taxonomic references*

  1. Pholcus globosus (Original description ♀)

    Taczanowski, 1874 Les aranéides de la Guyane française: 105

  2. Pholcus gibbosus (Original description ♀)

    Keyserling, 1877c Amerikanische Spinnenarten aus den Familien der Pholcoidae, Scytodoidae und Dysderoidae: 208, pl. 7, f. 2

  3. Pholcus claviger (Original description ♂)

    Simon, 1878g Étude sur les arachnides du Congo (suite) (1): 483

  4. Physocyclus globosus

    Simon, 1893a Histoire naturelle des araignées. Deuxième édition, tome premier: 470 doi:10.5962/bhl.title.51973

  5. Pholcus gibbosus (♀)

    Workman, 1896 Malaysian spiders: 72, pl. 72 doi:10.5962/bhl.title.101972

  6. Decetia incisa (Original description ♀)

    O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1898a Arachnida: 234, pl. 29, f. 1

  7. Physocyclus rotundus (♀; misidentified per Valdez-Mondragón, 2010b: 76)

    F. O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1902a Arachnida - Araneida and Opiliones: 369, pl. 35, f. 3-3a

  8. Physocyclus globosus (Synonym of Decetia incisa)

    Simon, 1903a Histoire naturelle des araignées. Deuxième édition, tome second: 988 doi:10.5962/bhl.title.51973

  9. Physocyclus globosus (♀)

    Chamberlin, 1921b On some arachnids from southern Utah: 247, pl. 10, f. 4 doi:10.4039/Ent53245-11

  10. Pholcophora juruensis (Original description ♂)

    Mello-Leitão, 1922a Quelques araignées nouvelles ou peu connues du Bresil: 210, f. 3-4

  11. Decetica incisa (generic replacement name)

    Strand, 1929 Zoological and palaeontological nomenclatorical notes: 18

  12. Physocyclus globosus (♂♀)

    Petrunkevitch, 1929b The spiders of Porto Rico: 141, f. 132-135

  13. Physocyclus muricola (Original description ♂♀)

    Badcock, 1932 Reports of an expedition to Paraguay and Brazil in 1926–7, supported by the Trustees of the Percy Sladen Memorial Fund and the Executive Committee of the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland: 7, f. 2 doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.1932.tb00987.x

  14. Physocyclus globosus (♂♀)

    Nakatsudi, 1943a Some Arachnida from Micronesia: 152, f. 4a-e

  15. Physocyclus globosus (Synonym of Physocyclus muricola)

    Mello-Leitão, 1946a Notas sobre os Filistatidae e Pholcidae: 71

  16. Physocyclus globosus (Synonym of Physocyclus muricola confirmed)

    Mello-Leitão, 1946b Arañas del Paraguay: 33

  17. Physocyclus globosus (♂♀)

    Brignoli, 1981c Studies on the Pholcidae, I: 94, f. 14-18, 21-24

  18. Physocyclus globosus (♂)

    Yaginuma, 1986a Spiders of Japan in color (new ed: 31, f. 17.8

  19. Artema atlanta (♂♀; misidentified per Song, Zhu & Chen, 1999: 63)

    Feng, 1990 Spiders of China in colour: 45, f. 20.1-7

  20. Physocyclus globosus (♂♀)

    Huber & Eberhard, 1997 Courtship, copulation, and genital mechanics in Physocyclus globosus (Araneae, Pholcidae): 905, f. 1-3, 5-9 doi:10.1139/z97-109

  21. Physocyclus globosus (♂♀)

    Huber, 1998b The pholcid spiders of Costa Rica (Araneae: Pholcidae): 1596, f. 116-119

  22. Physocyclus orientalis (Original description ♂♀)

    Song, Zhu & Chen, 1999 The spiders of China: 63, f. 26A-H

  23. Physocyclus globosus (Synonym of Physocyclus dubius)

    Huber, 2000 New World pholcid spiders (Araneae: Pholcidae): A revision at generic level: 149, f. 36, 49, 139, 169 doi:10.1206/0003-0090(2000)254<0001:NWPSAP>2.0.CO;2

  24. Physocyclus globosus (Synonym of Physocyclus orientalis)

    Huber & Zhu, 2001 On Taczanowski's pholcids, with three new synonymies in Pholcidae (Araneae): 152

  25. Physocyclus globosus (♂♀)

    Saaristo, 2001b Pholcid spiders of the granitic Seychelles (Araneae, Pholcidae): 17, f. 23-34

  26. Physocyclus monaguensis (Original description ♂♀)

    González-Sponga, 2007 Biodiversidad: 64, pl. 5, f. 1-9

  27. Physocyclus globosus (♂♀)

    Beatty, Berry & Huber, 2008 The pholcid spiders of Micronesia and Polynesia (Araneae, Pholcidae): 19, f. 12-14, 44-45 doi:10.1636/H05-66.1

  28. Physocyclus globosus (♂♀)

    Irie, 2009 Pholcidae: 111, f. 36-38

  29. Physocyclus globosus (Synonym of Physocyclus boconoensis, P. borburatensis, P. cariacoensis, P. guatirensis and P. monaguensis)

    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

  30. Physocyclus globosus (Synonym of Pholcus juruensis)

    Silva-Moreira et al., 2010 Annotated check list of Arachnida type specimens deposited in the Museu Nacional, Rio de Janeiro: 46 doi:10.11646/zootaxa.2588.1.1

  31. Physocyclus globosus (♂♀)

    Saaristo, 2010 Araneae: 166, f. 25.46-53

  32. Physocyclus globosus (♂♀)

    Valdez-Mondragón, 2010b Revisión taxonómica de Physocyclus Simon, 1893 (Araneae: Pholcidae), con la descripción de especies nuevas de México: 25, f. 42-48

  33. Physocyclus globosus (Synonym of Pholcus claviger)

    Huber, 2011b Revision and cladistic analysis of Pholcus and closely related taxa (Araneae, Pholcidae): 126

  34. Physocyclus globosus (♂)

    Valdez-Mondragón, 2013b Morphological phylogenetic analysis of the spider genus Physocyclus (Araneae: Pholcidae): 186, f. 14-15 doi:10.1636/k12-33.1

  35. Physocyclus globosus (♂)

    Gómez-Rodríguez et al., 2014 Arácnidos (excepto ácaros) de Tamaulipas: listado actualizado y algunos registros nuevos: 69, f. 1D

  36. Physocyclus globosus (♂♀)

    Baert et al., 2023 Updated checklist, origin, distribution, literature and genital drawings of the spiders of the Galápagos Islands: 22, f. 73A-B

  37. Physocyclus globosus (♂♀)

    Alcántar-Valenzuela et al., 2024 Current knowledge of spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) from Sinaloa, Mexico: species checklist and new records, including the first record of Plexippus petersi Karsch, 1878 for America: 12, f. 16-21 doi:10.21829/azm.2024.4012671

  38. Physocyclus globosus (♀)

    Sherwood et al., 2025b Arachnological biosecurity on one of the world’s most remote inhabited islands: a checklist of stowaway spiders found on Saint Helena, South Atlantic Ocean: 60, f. 1O doi:10.24394/NatSom.2025.45.57

* Retrieved from the World Spider Catalog.

Distribution Map for Physocyclus globosus (Taczanowski, 1874)

Widespread, including Sri Lanka, Seychelles, United States (Hawaii), Ecuador (Galápagos), Venezuela, Brazil, Guyana, Iran, Australia, Japan, China, Philippines, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore.

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