Atypidae  Thorell, 1870 / Atypus  Latreille, 1804   3 species

Atypus affinis  Eichwald, 1830

Description
Male

Pedipalp: with longitudinal depression on femur. Mostly black. Sternum with bright median area. First pair of sigilla more than one diameter apart from margin of sternum. Metatarsus IV: dorsally without spines. Tarsus male: always bright. Posterior spinnerets distinctly 3 segmented (in dorsal and ventral view).

Body length male: 7-9 mm
Female

Vulva with 2 pairs of receptacula seminis in the same line. Prosoma female: yellow-brown to black. Opisthosoma: often completely bright. Legs female: yellow-brown to black. 

Body length female: 10-15 mm
Additional information

In dry, open pinewoods and heathland, in south-exposed dry meadows and on rocky slopes, up to 500 m. Capture tube over ground 12-17 cm, retreat tube under ground 20-45 cm, diameter up to 13 mm. Colonies of up to 200 specimens at densities of up to 90 individuals/m2. Cocoons with 30-160 eggs at the lower end of tube, mature after 4 years. Females up to 8 years old. In contrast to the females, males can walk around and can be captured e.g. in pitfall traps.

This species can bite humans (Nentwig et al., 2013). Pain has been described as a light burning sensation with some associated local redness, disappearing soon.

Distribution
  Presence
  No data
Global distribution (WSC 2024): Europe (Britain and Portugal to Ukraine), North Africa
Phenology
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
 male  female
maximum male activity Sep.-Nov.
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.

Albania   (Vrenozi & Jäger, 2012) ||| Algeria   (Benhacene et al., 2023) ||| Austria   (no references) ||| Belarus   (Ivanov, 2013) ||| Belgium   (Bosmans & Van Keer, 2017) ||| Bosnia and Herzegovina   (Komnenov, 2010) ||| Bulgaria   (Blagoev et al., 2018) ||| Croatia   (Milosevic, 2002) ||| Czechia   (Růžička & Řezáč, 2022a) ||| Denmark   (no references) ||| France   (no references) ||| Germany   (no references) ||| Hungary   (Samu & Szinetár, 1999) ||| Ireland  Removed (Nolan, 2020; Lavery, 2019) ||| Italy   (Pantini & Isaia, 2019) ||| Liechtenstein   (Frick, unpubl.) ||| Luxembourg   (Kreuels et al., 2019) ||| Moldova   (Vasiliev & Mikhailov, 2023) ||| Morocco   (Bosmans, unpubl.) ||| Netherlands   (no references) ||| North Macedonia   (Komnenov, 2014) ||| Poland   (Rozwałka & Stanska, 2008) ||| Portugal   (Branco et al., 2019) ||| Romania  Removed (Weiss & Petrișor, 1999) ||| Serbia   (no references) ||| Slovakia   (no references) ||| Slovenia   (Kostanjšek & Kuntner, 2015) ||| Spain   (Branco et al., 2019) ||| Spain / Balearic Islands   (Branco et al., 2019) ||| Sweden   (Kronestedt, 2001) ||| Switzerland   (no references) ||| Ukraine   (no references) ||| United Kingdom   (Lavery, 2019) |||
References

Barrientos J A, Hernández-Corral J, García-Teba J P (2023b) Arañas (Arachnida: Araneae) del Parque Natural del Carrascal de la Font Roja (Alicante, España). Revista Ibérica de Aracnología 42: 167-188 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

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, Van Keer K (2017) Een herziene soortenlijst van de Belgische spinnen (Araneae). Nieuwsbrief van de Belgische Arachnologische Vereniging 32: 39-69 pdf

Bosmans R. (unpubl.) Provisional list of spiders of North Africa. Database excerpt Aug. 2019

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

Brændegaard J (1966) Edderkopper: Eller Spindlere I Danmarks Fauna 72: 1-224 pdf

Emerit M (1984) Les glandes tibiales des Telemidae: une structure inédite localisée sur l'appendice locomoteur des araignées. Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires des Séances de l'Académie des Sciences Paris (3) 299: 1-4 pdf

Frick H (unpubl.) .

Ivanov V V (2013) The checklist of Belarusian spiders (Arachnida, Araneae). Zoology and Ecology 4: 293-311 pdf

Komnenov M (2010) Checklist of spiders (Araneae) of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Uzizaž i Biospeld 5(2009): 52-69 pdf

Komnenov M (2014) Spider fauna of the Osogovo Mt. Range, Northeastern Macedonia. Fauna Balkana 2: 1-267 pdf

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

Kraus O, Baur H (1974) Die Atypidae der West-Paläarktis. Systematik, Verbreitung und Biologie (Arach.: Araneae). Abhandlungen und Verhandlungen des Naturwissenschaftlichen Vereins in Hamburg (NF) 17: 85-116 pdf

Kreuels M, Staudt A, Christian S (2019) Die Spinnenfauna von Luxemburg – eine Zusammenstellung der Nachweise aus den Jahren 1906-2018 (Arachnida: Araneae). Bulletin de la Société des naturalistes luxembourgeois 121: 203-230 pdf

Kronestedt T (2001) Checklist of Spiders (Araneae) in Sweden [Preliminary version February 2001] pdf

Lavery A (2019) A revised checklist of the spiders of Great Britain and Ireland. Arachnology 18: 196-212 pdf

Locket G H, Millidge A F (1951) British spiders. Vol. I. Ray Society, London, 310 pp. pdf

Loksa I (1969) Pokok I-Araneae I. Fauna Hungariae 97: 1-133 pdf

Miller F (1947) Pavoucí zvírena hadcových stepí u Mohelna. Archiv Svazu na Výzkum a Ochranu Přírody i Krajiny v Zemi Moravskoslezské 7: 1-107 pdf

Milosevic B (2002) Aranea – Popis vrsta – Checklist. Hrvatsko entomološko društvo – Inventar entomofaune Hrvatske [Aranea – List of species – Checklist. Croatian Entomological Society – Inventory of Croatian entomofauna]. pdf

Nentwig W, Gnädinger M, Fuchs J, Ceschi A (2013) A two year study of verified spider bites in Switzerland and a review of the European spider bite literature. Toxicon 73: 104-110 pdf

Nolan M (2020) Notes on ‘Irish’ spiders (Arachnida): Atypus affinis Eichwald (Atypidae) and Entelecara errata O. P.-Cambridge (Linyphiidae) removed from the Irish list; Cryptachaea blattea (Urquhart) (Theridiidae) new to Ireland. Bulletin of the Irish Biogeographical Society 44: 189-204 pdf

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

Rozwałka R, Stanska M (2008) Check-list of spiders (Araneae) of Poland. 1. December 2008. online at http://www.arachnologia.edu.pl/en/species/8-spiders-of-poland.html pdf

Růžička V, Řezáč M (2022a) Seznam pavouků České republiky. List of spiders of the Czech Republic. Online at https://www.arachnology.cz/seznam-pavouku-cr-26.html and https://www.arachnology.cz/en/seznam-pavouku-cr-26.html pdf

Samu F, Szinetár C (1999) Bibliographic check list of the Hungarian spider fauna. Bulletin of the British Arachnological Society 11: 161-184 pdf

Schwendinger P J (1990) A synopsis of the genus Atypus (Araneae, Atypidae). Zoologica Scripta 19: 353-366 pdf

Vasiliev A I, Mikhailov K G (2023) Annotated checklist of spiders (Araneae) of the Republic of Moldova. Invertebrate Zoology 20: 307-342 pdf

Vrenozi B, Jäger P (2012) A faunistic study on ground-dwelling spiders (Araneae) in the Tirana district, Albania. Arachnologische Mitteilungen 44: 81-87 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

WSC (2024) World Spider Catalog. Version 25.5. Natural History Museum Bern, online at http://wsc.nmbe.ch (31.10.2024) doi: 10.24436/2 pdf

Updates
11-08-2024 Distribution update Detail
31-01-2024 Distribution insert Detail
13-10-2023 Distribution insert Detail
14-08-2023 Image insert
16-11-2020 Distribution update Detail
08-06-2020 Distribution update Detail
06-05-2020 Distribution insert Detail
27-08-2019 Distribution update Detail
26-11-2013 Datasheet update Detail