Linyphiidae  Blackwall, 1859 / Leptorhoptrum  Kulczyński, 1894   1 species

Leptorhoptrum robustum (Westring, 1851)

Description

Cymbium shorter than palpal tibia. Embolus strongly sclerotised. Paracymbium very simple. Epigyne with broad epigynal plate, posterior margin ± straight. Receptacula seminis small and spheroidal, visible through epigyne. Prosoma brown, with dark margin and radial stripes. Sternum brown, tinged with black. Chelicerae brown, robust. Legs yellow-brown, ± short, robust. Opisthosoma grey to almost black.

Body length male: 3-4.2 mm
Body length female: 3-4.8 mm
Additional information

In moss and leaves of damp, cool localities from lowland up to alpine zone.

It has been described that this small species repeatedly bite sewage plant workers (Duffey & Green 1975). It is highly unlikely that a 3 mm linyphiid can bite humans, but other effects such as allergic reactions cannot be excluded. 

Character states from linyphiid key
Distribution
  Presence
  No data
Global distribution (WSC 2026): North America, Europe, Russia (Europe to Far East), Japan
Phenology
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
 male  female
Maximum VI-IX
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.

Austria   (Thaler, 1995) ||| Belgium   (Bosmans & Van Keer, 2017) ||| Bulgaria   (Blagoev et al., 2018; Naumova et al., 2021) ||| Czechia   (Růžička & Řezáč, 2022a) ||| Denmark   (Scharff & Gudik-Sørensen, 2006) ||| Faroe Islands   (Lissner et al., 2016b) ||| Finland   (Koponen et al., 2016) ||| France   (Le Peru, 2007) ||| Germany   (Blick et al., 2016) ||| Iceland   (Agnarsson, 1996) ||| Ireland   (Lavery, 2019) ||| Italy   (Isaia et al., 2025) ||| Latvia   (Cera, 2018) ||| Liechtenstein   (Arnold, 2001) ||| Luxembourg   (Kreuels et al., 2019) ||| Netherlands   (van Helsdingen, 2025a) ||| Northern Ireland   (Lavery, 2019) ||| Norway   (Aakra & Hauge, 2003) ||| Poland   (Rozwałka & Stanska, 2008) ||| Romania   (Weiss & Petrișor, 1999) ||| Russia, Central   (Ponomarev, 2022) ||| Russia, Eastern   (Esyunin & Efimik, 1996a) ||| Russia, Northern   (Nekhaeva, 2020; Koponen et al., 1998) ||| Russia, Southern   (Ponomarev, 2022) ||| Russia, Western   (no references) ||| Slovakia   (Gajdoš et al., 1999) ||| Sweden   (Kronestedt, 2001) ||| Switzerland   (Maurer & Hänggi, 1990) ||| Ukraine   (Gnelitsa, 2004b) ||| United Kingdom   (Lavery, 2019) |||
References

Aakra K, Hauge E (2003) Checklist of Norwegian spiders (Arachnida: Araneae), including Svalbard and Jan Mayen. Norwegian Journal of Entomology 50: 109-129 pdf

Agnarsson I (1996) Íslenskar köngulær Fjölrit Náttúrufræðistofnunar 31: 1-175 pdf

Arnold K (2001) Beitrag zur Spinnenfauna (Arachnida, Araneae) des Fürstentums Liechtenstein. Berichte der Botanisch-Zoologischen Gesellschaft Liechtenstein-Sargans-Werdenberg 28: 211-244 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, Van Keer K (2017) Een herziene soortenlijst van de Belgische spinnen (Araneae). Nieuwsbrief van de Belgische Arachnologische Vereniging 32: 39-69 pdf

Cera I (2018) The checklist of Latvian spiders (Arachnida: Araneae). Environmental and Experimental Biology 16: 139-152 pdf

Duffey E, Green M B (1975) A linyphiid spider biting workers on a sewage-treatment plant. Bulletin of the British Arachnological Society 3: 130-131 pdf

Esyunin S L, Efimik V E (1996a) Catalogue of the spiders (Arachnida, Aranei) of the Urals. KMK Scientific Press, Moscow, 228 pp. pdf

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

Gnelitsa V A (2004b) [Preliminary data on spiders of the family Linyphiidae of the Vyzhnitsky National Nature Park (Carpathians, Ukraine)]. Nature Reserves in Ukraine 10: 86-89 pdf

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

Koponen S, Fritzén N R, Pajunen T (2016) Checklist of spiders in Finland (Araneae). 6th version, December 2016, online at http://biolcoll.utu.fi/arach/checklist_of_spiders_in_Finland.htm pdf

Koponen S, Marusik Y M, Tanasevitch A V (1998) New data on the spider fauna of the Polar Urals (Aranei). Arthropoda Selecta 6: 109-119 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

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

Lissner J, Jensen J-K, Hansen L J, Simonsen W, Kelduni R, Nissen K (2016b) An updated checklist of spiders (Araneae) of the Faroe Islands. Norwegian Journal of Entomology 63: 197-240 pdf

Locket G H, Millidge A F (1953) British spiders. Vol. II. Ray Society, London, 449 pp. pdf

Løvbrekke H (unpubl.)

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

Morka G H (unpubl.)

Naumova M, Blagoev G, Deltshev D (2021) Fifty spider species new to the Bulgarian fauna, with a review of some dubious species (Arachnida: Araneae). Zootaxa 4984: 228-257 pdf

Nekhaeva A A (2020) On the spider fauna (Arachnida: Aranei) of the Kanin Peninsula and Kolguev Island, Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Russia. Arthropoda Selecta 29: 387-398 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

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

Roberts M J (1987) The spiders of Great Britain and Ireland. Volume 2: Linyphiidae and checklist. Harley Books Colchester, England, 204 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

Scharff N, Gudik-Sørensen O (2006) Katalog over Danmarks edderkopper (Araneae). Catalogue of the spiders of Denmark (Araneae). Entomologiske Meddelelser 74: 3-71 pdf

Thaler K (1995) Beiträge zur Spinnenfauna von Nordtirol - 5. Linyphiidae 1: Linyphiinae (sensu Wiehle) (Arachnida: Araneida). Berichte des Naturwissenschaftlich-Medizinischen Vereins in Innsbruck 82: 153-190 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 (1956) Spinnentiere oder Arachnoidea, X. 28: Familie Linyphiidae-Baldachinspinnen. Die Tierwelt Deutschlands 44: 1-337 pdf

WSC (2026) World Spider Catalog. Version 27. Natural History Museum Bern, online at http://wsc.nmbe.ch (13.2.2026) doi: 10.24436/2 pdf

Updates
23-10-2025 Distribution update Detail
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26-09-2022 Image insert
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