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Lesser Cobweb Spiders.
Morphology. The adult spiders 1.3–3 mm long; of medium build, or decidedly plump-bodied; decidedly short-legged; with eight eyes. The eyes in two horizontal rows of 4; all clear and glassy. The palpal organs of the male of complex structure and enclosed by the specialized, hollowed tarsal segment (the cymbium). Metatarsus IV of the females without a calamistrum. Tarsal claws 3. The abdomen conspicuously patterned dorsally. The tracheal spiracles more or less equidistant from the epigastric furrow and the spinnerets, or close to the spinnerets. The spinnerets in a more or less transverse row. With one pair of spinnerets 2-segmented (the outer ones). The abdomen of the females without a cribellum. The reproductive openings of the females associated with an epigyne.
The adults making snare-webs; constructing horizontal sheet webs (making small webs on the ground, in soil, moss and leaf litter).
Representation in Britain and Ireland. 7 species in Britain; in the genera Antistea and Hahnia.
Illustrations. • Antistea elegans, Hahnia montana and Hahnia nava. 99, Antistea elegans (Bl.): a, female; b, male; c, palpus of the male, in side view; d, the latter from below; e, the spinnerets. 100, Hahnia montana (Bl.): a, female; b, male; c, palpal organs of the male. 101, Hahnia nava (Bl.): a, female; b, male; c, palpal organs of the male. From Blackwall (1861).
We advise against extracting comparative information from the descriptions. This is much more easily achieved using the DELTA data files or the interactive key, which allows access to the character list, illustrations, full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting or lacking specified attributes, and distributions of character states within any set of taxa. See also Guidelines for using data taken from Web publications.
Cite this publication as: ‘Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. 2003 onwards. The spider families of Britain and Ireland. Version: 5th August 2019. delta-intkey.com’.
