Atypidae  Thorell, 1870 / Atypus  Latreille, 1804   3 species

Atypus piceus (Sulzer, 1776)

Description

Palp male: femur with longitudinal ridge in a depression. Vulva with 5-11 receptacula seminis, in various sizes. Prosoma female: dark brown, male: dark brown or red-brown to black. Sternum with dark median field, first pair of sigilla ± one diameter apart from margin of sternum. Metatarsus IV male: dorsally with 2 or more spines. Tarsus male: lighter. Opisthosoma female: grey-brown, male: mostly darker than prosoma. Posterior spinnerets only appearing 4 segmented, segment border is pretended by pigment-less part in dorsal view, distinctly 3 segments in ventral view.

Body length male: 9 mm
Body length female: 10-15 mm
Additional information

In dry meadows and slopes with scarce vegetation, up to 1200 m. Silken tube for capturing prey above ground 7-9 cm long, retreat tube in soil, 20-25 cm deep, diameter 12-15 mm, builds colonies, 70-160 hatchlings per female per year.

This species can bite humans. Pain has been described as a light burning sensation with some associated local redness, disappearing soon.

Distribution
  Presence
  No data
Global distribution (WSC 2026): Europe (France to Russia), Iran
Phenology
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
 male  female
females: up to 8 years old, males: June-August
Figures
Distribution List
Austria   (Thaler & Knoflach, 2002b) ||| Belgium   (Bosmans & Van Keer, 2017) ||| Bulgaria   (Blagoev et al., 2018) ||| Czechia   (Růžička & Řezáč, 2022a) ||| France   (Le Peru, 2007) ||| Germany   (Blick et al., 2016) ||| Greece   (Bosmans & Chatzaki, 2005; Schröder et al., 2011) ||| Hungary   (Samu & Szinetár, 1999) ||| Italy   (Isaia et al., 2025) ||| Kosovo   (Vrenozi & Jäger, 2013) ||| Liechtenstein   (Arnold, 2001) ||| Luxembourg   (Hermann, 1998; Kreuels et al., 2019) ||| Moldova   (Vasiliev & Mikhailov, 2023) ||| Netherlands   (van Helsdingen, 2025a) ||| North Macedonia   (Komnenov, 2014) ||| Poland   (Rozwałka & Stanska, 2008) ||| Romania   (Weiss & Petrișor, 1999) ||| Russia, Central   (Ponomarev, 2022) ||| Serbia   (Stanković, 2023) ||| Slovakia   (Gajdoš et al., 1999) ||| Slovenia   (Kostanjšek & Kuntner, 2015) ||| Switzerland   (Maurer & Hänggi, 1990) ||| Ukraine   (Polchaninova & Prokopenko, 2019) |||
References

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Bali L, Andrési D, Szinetár C, Tuba K (2020) Betekintés a Bejcgyertyánosi farkas-erdő talajközeli pókfaunájába [Observation of the epigeic spider fauna of the Bejcgyertyános wolf forest]. Biológia Savaria Természettudományi és Sporttudományi Közlemények 18: 59-74 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

Blick T, Finch O-D, Harms K H, Kiechle J, Kielhorn K-H , Kreuels M, Malten A, Martin D, Muster C, Nährig D, Platen R, Rödel I, Scheidler M, Staudt A, Stumpf H, Tolke D (2016) Rote Liste und Gesamtartenliste der Spinnen (Arachnida: Araneae) Deutschlands. 3. Fassung, Stand April 2008, einzelne Änderungen und Nachträge bis August 2015. Naturschutz und Biologische Vielfalt 70/4: 383-510 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, Van Keer K (2017) Een herziene soortenlijst van de Belgische spinnen (Araneae). Nieuwsbrief van de Belgische Arachnologische Vereniging 32: 39-69 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

Gajdoš P, Svatoň J, Sloboda J (1999) Katalóg pavúkov Slovenska. Catalogue of Slovakian spiders. Ústav kr. ekol. SAV, Bratislava, 337 pp.

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Helsdingen P J van (2025a) Catalogus van de Nederlandse spinnen. Versie 2025.1. 249 pp. pdf

Hermann E (1998) Die Spinnen (Araneae) ausgewählter Halbtrockenrasen im Osten Luxemburgs. Bulletin de la Société des naturalistes Luxembourgeois 99: 189-199 pdf

Isaia M, Tolve M, Pantini P (2025) Araneae.it: 2.0: the new updated version of the digital catalog of the Italian spiders and other arachnids (Arachnida: Araneae, Opiliones, Scorpiones, Pseudoscorpiones, Palpigradi, Solifugae). Fragmenta Entomologica 57: 197-204 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

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

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

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

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

Polchaninova N, Prokopenko E (2019) An updated checklist of spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) of Left-Bank Ukraine. Arachnologische Mitteilungen 57: 60-64 & App pdf

Ponomarev A V (2022) Spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) of the southeast of the Russian Plain: catalogue, the fauna specific features. SSC RAS Publishers, Rostov-on-Don, 640 pp. 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

Schröder M, Chatzaki M, Buchholz S (2011) The spider fauna of the Aladjagiola wetland complex (Nestos Delta, north-east Greece): a reflection of a unique zoogeographical transition zone in Europe. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 102: 217-233 pdf

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Stanković B (2023) Diversity of spider fauna in the area of Jagodina (Serbia). In: Seydoşoğlu, S. & Durna Aydin, Ö (eds.) International Cukurova Agriculture and Veterinary Congress 4. Adana, pp. 590-615 pdf

Thaler K, Knoflach B (2002b) Zur Faunistik der Spinnen (Araneae) von Österreich: Atypidae, Haplogynae, Eresidae, Zodariidae, Mimetidae. Linzer Biologische Beiträge 34: 413-444 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 (2013) Spiders (Araneae) from Albania and Kosovo in the collection of Carl Friedrich Roewer. Arachnologische Mitteilungen 46: 17-26 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 (2026) World Spider Catalog. Version 27. Natural History Museum Bern, online at http://wsc.nmbe.ch (20.5.2026) doi: 10.24436/2 pdf

Updates
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