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Comb-footed Cellar Spider.
Morphology. The adult spiders 3–6 mm long; of medium build (males), or decidedly plump-bodied (females); with legs of medium length, or decidedly long-legged (from less than twice to over three times the body length); with eight eyes. The eyes in two horizontal rows of 4; all clear and glassy. The maxillae longer than broad. The palpal organs of the male of complex structure and enclosed by the specialized, hollowed tarsal segment (the cymbium). The male palps with a well developed paracymbium. The female palps with a claw. Metatarsus IV of the females without a calamistrum. Tarsal claws 3. Tarsus IV with a ventral row of serrated bristles constituting a ‘comb’. The abdomen conspicuously patterned dorsally. 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 (in the form of a loose platform, attached to stone or brick by sticky threads, in deep shade, caves, cellars, etc.).
Representation in Britain and Ireland. 1 species in Britain; in the genus Nesticus (N. cellulanus).
Comments. The male palp with a well developed paracymbium.
Illustrations. • Nesticus cellulanus. Nesticus cellulanus (Clerck): a, female; b, male; c, palpus of the male. From Blackwall (1864: his Linyphia crypticolens).
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’.
