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Dysderidae  C. L. Koch, 1837 / Harpactea  Bristowe, 1939   221 species

Harpactea catholica (Brignoli, 1984)

WSC LSID urn:lsid:nmbe.ch:spidersp:004621

Key to genera | Key to species

Description
Male

Embolus thick, transverse. Conductor finger-shaped, projecting in opposite direction to the embolus. Prosoma reddish light brown. Prosoma 2.2-3.1 mm long. Sternum yellow. Legs yellow; tibia I-II and metatarsus I-II with ventral spines. Opisthosoma light grey to yellow, long and slender

Female

Vulva with inverted Y-shaped spermatheca. Prosoma yellowish, cephalic part darker. Prosoma 2.8 mm long. Eyes small, ringed with black, anteriors one diameter apart. Legs yellowish, anterior tibia and metatarsus with ventral spines, femur I with 2 to 5 spines, femur II with 2 to 6 spines, femur III and IV with numerous spines.

Body length female: 8.2 mm
Additional information

Habitat: Pinus, Cupressus and Quercusforests of western Crete, from 500 m to 1200 m a.s.l. This species has anterior tibia and metatarsus with ventral spines, this is exceptional in the genus Harpactea. In caves, also in pine forests, under stones.

Troglophile species (Mammola et al., 2022)

Distribution
  Presence
  No data
Global distribution (WSC 2026): Greece (Crete)
Phenology
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
 male  female
Figures
species

male Pedipalp, retrolateral view
(Chatzaki & Arnedo 2006)

species

male Chelicera, ventral view
(Chatzaki & Arnedo 2006)

species

female Vulva, ventral view
(Chatzaki & Arnedo 2006)

species

female Vulva, ventral view
(Chatzaki & Arnedo 2006)

species

female Vulva, dorsal view
(Chatzaki & Arnedo 2006)

species

female Vulva
(Brignoli 1984b)

species

female Vulva, dorsal view
(Gasparo 2011)

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.

Greece / Crete   (Bosmans & Chatzaki, 2005) |||
References

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

Brignoli P M (1984b) Ragni di Grecia XII. Nuovi dati su varie famiglie (Araneae). Revue Suisse de Zoologie 91: 281-321 pdf

Chatzaki M, Arnedo M A (2006) Taxonomic revision of the epigean representatives of the spider subfamily Harpacteinae (Araneae: Dysderidae) on the island of Crete. Zootaxa 1169: 1-32 pdf

Gasparo F (2011) Una nuova Harpactea cavernicola di Creta (Araneae, Dysderidae). Atti e Memorie, Commissione Grotte "Eugenio Boegan" 43: 57-65 pdf

Mammola S, Pavlek M, Huber B A, Isaia M, Ballarin F, Tolve M, Čupić I, Hesselberg T, Lunghi E, Mouron S, Graco-Roza C, Cardoso P (2022) A trait database and updated checklist for European subterranean spiders. Scientific Data 9(236): 1-13 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
05-02-2026 Distribution update Detail
30-04-2013 Image insert