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Scytodidae  Blackwall, 1864 / Scytodes  Latreille, 1804   12 species

Scytodes thoracica  (Latreille, 1802)

WSC LSID urn:lsid:nmbe.ch:spidersp:002900

Key to genera | Key to species

Description
Male

Bulbus with a long, tapering embolus. Prosoma 2 mm long. Prosoma yellowish, equally large or larger than opisthosoma, dorsal line ascending posteriorly, pattern brown-black. Chelicerae weakly developed. Legs yellow-brown to black, annulated. Opisthosoma yellowish with brown-black pattern.

Body length male: 3.5-4 mm
Female

Prosoma 3 mm long. Cephalothorax almost as large as opisthosoma. Prosoma pale yellowish, with black pattern. Sternum pale yellow, labium slightly darker. Legs pale yellowish. Opisthosoma pale yellowish, with pairs of black patches on midline, and small black blotches on the side.

Body length female: 4-5.5 mm
Additional information

Outdoor in the southern parts of Europe, in heathland, scrub, rocky littoral, gardens, under stones, mainly in buildings, active during the night. Slow and skulking movements, does not build webs, but spits poison and adhesive from modified poison glands through large cheliceral opening on prey up to 20 mm away, which then is stuck to the surface.

Since a few decades, this species shows some spreading tendencies within Europe. Nevertheless, it shall not be listed as alien or invasive because it is native for Europe.

Distribution
  Presence
  No data
Global distribution (WSC 2021): Europe, North Africa, Turkey, Iran, temperate Asia to China, Korea, Japan. Introduced to North America, Argentina, South Africa, India, Australia, New Zealand
Phenology
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
 male  female
Females with egg sac in August.
Figures
species

male Pedipalp
(Loksa 1969)

species

male Pedipalp
(Locket & Millidge 1951)

species

male Pedipalp
(Bürgis 1990)

species

male Pedipalp
(Roberts 1995)

species

male Pedipalp
(Wiehle 1953)

species

male Pedipalp, retrolateral view
(Rozwałka & Czaja 2021a)

species

female Pedipalp
(Locket & Millidge 1951)

species

female Epigyne
(Bürgis 1990)

species

female Epigyne
(Wiehle 1953)

species

female Epigyne
(Rozwałka & Czaja 2021a)

species

female Epigyne
(Taberlet unpubl.)

species

female Vulva
(Wiehle 1953)

species

female Vulva, dorsal view
(Rozwałka & Czaja 2021a)

species

female Vulva, ventral view
(Taberlet unpubl.)

species

female Vulva, anterior view
(Taberlet unpubl.)

species

female Vulva, posterior view
(Taberlet unpubl.)

species

female Habitus
(Locket & Millidge 1951)

species

female Habitus
(Loksa 1969)

species

Prosoma, lateral view
(Brændegaard 1966)

species

Prosoma, lateral view
(Loksa 1969)

species

Eyes, dorsal view
(Loksa 1969)

species

Eyes, dorsal view
(Wiehle 1953)

species

Sternum and coxa
(Wiehle 1953)

species

Sternum
(Locket & Millidge 1951)

species

Chelicerae, ventral view
(Wiehle 1953)

species

Chelicerae, ventral view
(Loksa 1969)

species

Chelicerae, ventral view
(Locket & Millidge 1951)

species

Habitus
(Bürgis 1990)

species

Habitus
(Bürgis 1990)

species

Habitus
(Wiehle 1953)

species

Habitus, dorsal view
(Rozwałka & Czaja 2021a)

Distribution List
Albania   (Deltshev et al., 2011b) ||| Algeria   (Bosmans, unpubl.) ||| Armenia   (Otto, 2020) ||| Austria   (no references) ||| Azerbaijan   (Otto, 2020) ||| Belgium   (no references) ||| Bosnia and Herzegovina   (Komnenov, 2010) ||| Bulgaria   (Blagoev et al., 2018) ||| Croatia   (no references) ||| Cyprus   (Bosmans et al., 2019c) ||| Czechia   (no references) ||| Denmark   (no references) ||| Egypt   (El-Hennawy, 2006) ||| France   (no references) ||| France / Corsica   (no references) ||| Georgia   (Otto, 2020) ||| Germany   (no references) ||| Greece   (no references) ||| Greece / Crete   (no references) ||| Hungary   (Samu & Szinetár, 1999) ||| Ireland   (no references) ||| Italy   (Pantini & Isaia, 2019) ||| Italy / Sardinia   (Pantini & Isaia, 2019) ||| Italy / Sicily   (Pantini & Isaia, 2019) ||| Kosovo   (Geci & Naumova, 2021b) ||| Libya   (Bosmans, unpubl.) ||| Liechtenstein   (no references) ||| Luxembourg   (Kreuels et al., 2019) ||| Malta   (Pfliegler et al., 2017) ||| Moldova   (no references) ||| Montenegro   (no references) ||| Netherlands   (no references) ||| North Macedonia   (no references) ||| Poland   (Rozwałka & Czaja, 2021a) ||| Portugal   (Branco et al., 2019) ||| Romania   (no references) ||| Russia, Central   (no references) ||| Russia, Southern   (Otto, 2020) ||| Serbia   (no references) ||| Slovakia   (no references) ||| Slovenia   (Kostanjšek & Kuntner, 2015) ||| Spain   (Branco et al., 2019) ||| Spain / Balearic Islands   (Branco et al., 2019) ||| Switzerland   (no references) ||| Tunisia   (Bosmans, unpubl.) ||| Turkey (Asia)   (Danışman et al., 2021a) ||| Turkey (Europe)   (Demircan & Topçu, 2016) ||| Ukraine   (Polchaninova & Prokopenko, 2019) ||| United Kingdom   (no references) |||
References

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 J, Russell-Smith A, Hadjiconstantis M, Komnenov M, Bosselaers J, Huber S, McCowan D, Snazell R, Decae A, Zoumides C, Kielhorn K-H, Oger P (2019c) Spiders of Cyprus (Araneae). A catalogue of all currently known species from Cyprus. Newsletter of the Belgian Arachnological Society 34, Suppl. 1: 1-173 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

Bürgis H (1990) Die Speispinne Scytodes thoracica (Araneae: Sicariidae). Ein Beitrag zur Morphologie und Biologie. Mitteilungen der Pollichia 77: 289-313 pdf

Danışman T, Kunt K B, Özkütük R S (2021a) The checklist of the spiders of Turkey. Version 2021 [last updated 1 January 2021], online at http://www.spidersofturkey.info pdf

Deltshev C, Vrenozi B, Blagoev G, Lazarov S (2011b) Spiders of Albania – faunistic and zoogeographical review (Arachnida: Araneae). Acta Zoologica Bulgarica 63: 125-144 pdf

Demircan N, Topçu A (2016) First records for spider fauna of the European part of Turkey (Araneae). Serket 15: 85-91 pdf

El-Hennawy H K (2006) A list of Egyptian spiders (revised in 2006). Serket 10: 65-76 pdf

Geci D, Naumova M (2021b) A preliminary checklist of the spiders of Kosovo (Arachnida: Araneae). Ecologia Balkanica, Special Edition 4: 11-28 pdf

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

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

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

Otto S (2020) Caucasian spiders. A faunistic database on the spiders of the Caucasus Ecoregion. Database version 03.2020. 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

Pfliegler W A, Schönhofer A, Niedbała W, Vella P, Sciberras A, Vella A (2017) New records of mites (Acari) and harvestmen (Opiliones) from Malta with a preliminary checklist of Maltese Arachnida. Soil Organisms 89: 85-110 pdf

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

Roberts M J (1995) Collins Field Guide: Spiders of Britain & Northern Europe. HarperCollins, London, 383 pp. pdf

Rozwałka R, Czaja M (2021a) [Distribution of Scytodes thoracica (Latreille, 1802) (Araneae: Scytodidae) in Poland]. Acta Entomologica Silesiana 29(8): 1-6 pdf

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

Taberlet J-P (unpubl.)

Wiehle H (1953) Spinnentiere oder Arachnoidea (Araneae), IX. Orthognatha-Cribellata-Haplogynae, Entelegynae (Pholcidae, Zodariidae, Oxyopidae, Mimetidae, Nesticidae). Die Tierwelt Deutschlands 42: 1-150 pdf

WSC (2021) World Spider Catalog. Version 22.0. Natural History Museum Bern, online at http://wsc.nmbe.ch (29.05.2021) doi: 10.24436/2 pdf

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