Theridiidae  Sundevall, 1833 / Theridion  Walckenaer, 1805   63 species

Theridion petraeum  L. Koch, 1872

Description

Conductor with bipartite tip. Epigyne with straight or slightly convex posterior margin of epigynal groove. Vulva with entrance ducts forming a double loop. Prosoma yellow-orange, margin and dorsal groove black. Sternum yellowish, brownish darkened. Chelicerae yellowish. Legs yellow-orange, annulated and dark spotted. Opisthosoma dorsally with bright median band and irregularly spotted with brown-black, ventrally grey with white spots, large black spot anterior of spinnerets.

Body length male: 3.5-4.5 mm
Body length female: 3.5-4.5 mm
Additional information

In sandy areas, under grass and stones, frequent in alpine zone. Altitude up to 2200 m.

Distribution
  Presence
  No data
Distribution comment: Occurrence in Greece and in the Caucasus need to be verified (Bosmans & Chatzaki, 2005, Otto, 2022)
Global distribution (WSC 2025): North America, Europe, Morocco, Caucasus, Russia (Europe to Far East), Kazakhstan
Phenology
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
 male  female
Figures
Distribution List

"No references" does not mean that the species does not occur in this country, but that we have not yet inserted the reference for it. We are working on it.

Algeria  Removed (Benhacene et al., 2023; Beladjal et al., 2025) ||| Andorra   (Branco et al., 2019) ||| Austria   (Knoflach & Thaler, 1998) ||| Azerbaijan   (Otto, 2022) ||| Bulgaria   (Blagoev et al., 2018) ||| France   (Le Peru, 2007) ||| France / Corsica   (Le Peru, 2007) ||| Greece   (Bosmans & Chatzaki, 2005) ||| Italy   (Pantini & Isaia, 2019) ||| Liechtenstein   (Arnold, 2001) ||| Morocco   (Benhalima & Bosmans, 2024) ||| North Macedonia   (Komnenov, 2017) ||| Portugal   (Branco et al., 2019) ||| Romania   (Weiss & Petrișor, 1999) ||| Russia, Central   (no references) ||| Russia, Eastern   (no references) ||| Russia, Western   (no references) ||| Slovenia   (Kostanjšek & Kuntner, 2015) ||| Spain   (Branco et al., 2019) ||| Switzerland   (Maurer & Hänggi, 1990) ||| Ukraine   (Mikhailov, 2013) |||
References

Arnold K (2001) Beitrag zur Spinnenfauna (Arachnida, Araneae) des Fürstentums Liechtenstein. Berichte der Botanisch-Zoologischen Gesellschaft Liechtenstein-Sargans-Werdenberg 28: 211-244 pdf

Beladjal L, Bouseksou S, Kherbouche-Abrous O, Alioua Y, Bosmans R (2025) First exhaustive catalog of spiders of Algeria (Arachnida: Araneae). Zootaxa 5598: 1-185 pdf

Benhacene R, Adjami A, Hadjeb A, Kermiche K, Ouakid M L (2023) Bibliographic checklist of the Algerian spider fauna (Araneae). Zootaxa 5352: 301-357 pdf

Benhalima S, Bosmans R (2024) First historical checklist of spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) from Morocco, between 1840–2024. Zootaxa 5555: 407-535 pdf

Blagoev G, Deltshev C, Lazarov S, Naumova M (2018) The spiders (Araneae) of Bulgaria. Version: August 2018. National Museum of Natural History, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Online at http://www.nmnhs.com/spiders-bulgaria/ (accessed on 10.9.2018) pdf

Bosmans R, Chatzaki M (2005) A catalogue of the spiders of Greece – a critical review of all spider species cited from Greece with their localities. Nieuwsbrief van de Belgische arachnologische Vereniging 20 (2, suppl.): 1-124 pdf

Bosmans R, Vanuytven H, Van Keer J (1994) On two poorly known Theridion species, recently collected in Belgium for the first time (Araneae: Theridiidae). Bulletin of the British Arachnological Society 9: 236-240 pdf

Branco V V, Morano E, Cardoso P (2019) An update to the Iberian spider checklist (Araneae). Zootaxa 4614: 201-254 pdf

Knoflach B (1998) Mating in Theridion varians Hahn and related species (Araneae: Theridiidae). Journal of Natural History 32: 545-604 pdf

Knoflach B, Thaler K (1998) Kugelspinnen und verwandte Familien von Österreich: ökofaunistische Übersicht (Araneae: Theridiidae, Anapidae, Mysmenidae, Nesticidae). Stapfia 667-712 pdf

Komnenov M (2017) New data on spider fauna (Araneae) of Shar Mountain, north-western Macedonia. Proceedings of the 5th Congress of the Ecologists of Macedonia, with international participation (Ohrid, 19th-22nd October 2016). Special issues of the Macedonian Ecological Society 13: 44-61 pdf

Kostanjšek R, Kuntner M (2015) Araneae Sloveniae: a national spider species checklist. ZooKeys 474: 1-91 pdf

Le Peru B (2007) Catalogue et répartition des araignées de France. Revue Arachnologique 16: 1-468 pdf

Maurer R, Hänggi A (1990) Katalog der schweizerischen Spinnen. Documenta Faunistica Helvetiae 12 pdf

Mikhailov K G (2013) The spiders (Arachnida: Aranei) of Russia and adjacent countries: a non-annotated checklist. Arthropoda Selecta, Supplement 3: 1-262 pdf

Otto S (2022) Caucasian spiders. A faunistic database on the spiders of the Caucasus Ecoregion. Database version 02.2022. Internet: caucasus-spiders.info.

Pantini P, Isaia M (2019) Araneae.it: the online catalog of Italian spiders, with addenda on other arachnid orders occurring in Italy (Arachnida: Araneae, Opiliones, Palpigradi, Pseudoscorpionida, Scorpiones, Solifugae). Fragmenta Entomologica 51: 127-152 pdf

Weiss I, Petrișor A (1999) List of the spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) from Romania. Travaux du Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle “Grigore Antipa” 41: 79-107 pdf

Wiehle H (1937) Spinnentiere oder Arachnoidea, VIII. 26: Familie Theridiidae oder Haubennetzspinnen (Kugelspinnen). Die Tierwelt Deutschlands 33: 119-222 pdf

WSC (2025) World Spider Catalog. Version 26. Natural History Museum Bern, online at http://wsc.nmbe.ch (28.2.2025) doi: 10.24436/2 pdf

Updates
05-03-2025 Distribution update Detail
06-01-2019 Distribution update Detail