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Pholcus phalangioides Große Zitterspinne |
 Specimen photographed in Göttingen (Niedersachsen, Germany) on October 21, 2007.  Specimen photographed in Göttingen (Niedersachsen, Germany) on October 21, 2007.  Specimen photographed in Göttingen (Niedersachsen, Germany) on June 05, 2008. Subspecies No subspecies are recognized. Original description Synonyms Aranea phalangoides Fuesslin, 1775 Pholcus
phalangioides (Fuesslin, 1775) (justified
emendation, see note below)
Aranea
meticulosa De Fourcroy, 1785Pholcus nemastomoides C. L. Koch, 1837 Pholcus americanus Nicolet, 1849 Pholcus atlanticus Hentz, 1850 Pholcus litoralis L. Koch, 1867 Pholcus dubiomaculatus Mello-Leitao, 1918 Pholcus communis Piza, 1938 Note: the original spelling of the species epithet is "Phalangoides". From a grammatical point of view this name is derived from "phalangae, -arum" (latin for "long bar or rod" ) and suggests that Fuesslin (1775) was inspired by the long legs that reminded him of long rods ("phalangoides" = "similar to long rods"). However, most subsequent authors assumed that Fuesslin meant to stress the similarity between the present species and harvestmen (Opiliones). Therefore, the species epithet has been emended to "phalangioides": derived from "Phalangium" (a genus name in the Opiliones) and meaning "similar to Phalangium". There is no way of knowing whether Fuesslin derived his species epithet from "phalangae" or from "Phalangium", but I agree with the interpretation that Fuesslin´s most likely intention was to stress the similarity between the present species and harvestmen. The missing "i" before the "-oides" suffix could then be interpreted as a mistake by Fuesslin using the wrong stem "phalang-" instead of "phalangi-". Alternatively, the missing "i" could be a printer´s or typesetter´s error. This second alternative is strongly supported by the fact that the text of Fuesslin´s book ends with a note of his publisher that states that the work unfortunately had to be typeset and printed in the absence of the author and therefore contains a number of errors, especially several mistakes in the numbering of the species. Further errors are likely and Fuesslin apparently was not available for proofreading. Thus I regard the emendation of "phalangoides" to "phalangioides" as a justified emendation. Identification Distribution Biology |
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