Gnaphosidae  Banks, 1892 / Zelotes  Gistel, 1848   132 species

Zelotes laetus (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1872)

Description

Body colouration black. Chelicerae: promargin with 2-3 teeth, retromargin with 0-1 tooth.

Body length male: 3.8-5.8 mm
Body length female: 4.2-7.3 mm
Distribution
  Presence
  No data
Global distribution (WSC 2026): North Africa to Senegal and Kenya, Portugal, France, Greece (Crete), Turkey, Middle East, Iran. Introduced to Hawaii, USA, Mexico, Peru, Galapagos, Ascension
Figures
Distribution List
Algeria   (Benhacene et al., 2023) ||| Egypt   (El-Hennawy, 2017a) ||| France   (Le Peru, 2007) ||| Greece / Crete   (Kaltsas et al., 2014) ||| Libya   (Elkrew et al., 2024) ||| Morocco   (Lecigne et al., 2025) ||| Portugal   (Branco et al., 2019) ||| Turkey (Asia)   (Danışman & Erol, 2022; Danışman et al., 2025a) |||
References

Abdalrazzaq R K, Najim S A (2024) Two new records of gnaphosid spiders (Araneae: Gnaphosidae) from eastern Al-Hammar marsh south of Iraq. Serket 20: 141-146 pdf

Abdel-Ghani D M A, Hassan F M, Sallam G M E (2023) Spiders as a bio-agent factor in a mango greenhouse at Giza Governorate, Egypt. Serket 20: 26-38 pdf

Baert L, Maelfait J-P, Desender K, Hendrickx F, Dekoninck W, Berthet M, Bouckaert K, Caudron J, Leclercq M (2023) Updated checklist, origin, distribution, literature and genital drawings of the spiders of the Galápagos Islands Belgian Journal of Entomology 142: 1-188 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

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

Danışman T, Erol Y (2022) First report of Zelotes laetus (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1872) (Araneae: Gnaphosidae) in Turkey. Serket 18: 349-352 pdf

Danışman T, Kunt K B, Özkütük R S, Coşar İ (2025a) The checklist of the spiders of Turkey. Version 2025 [last updated 01 December 2025], online at http://www.spidersofturkey.info pdf

El-Hennawy H K (2017a) A list of Egyptian spiders (revised in 2017). Serket 15: 167-183 pdf

Elkrew H, Hamza A, Ghana S, Shaibi T, Swehli A I, Elmareme H, Ahmad A (2024) Checklist of the spiders (Araneae) of Libya. Pakistan Journal of Life and Social Sciences 22: 19346-19369 pdf

Kaltsas D, Panayiotou E, Chatzaki M, Mylonas M (2014) Ground spider assemblages (Araneae: Gnaphosidae) along an urban-rural gradient in the city of Heraklion, Greece. European Journal of Entomology 111: 59-67 pdf

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

Lecigne S, Moutaouakil S, Lips J (2025) Contribution to the knowledge of the spider fauna of Morocco (Arachnida: Araneae) – second note. On new species and new records from caves and miscellaneous terrestrial ecosystems. Journal of the Belgian Arachnological Society 40(1, supplement): 1-184 pdf

Simon E (1914) Les arachnides de France 6 (1). Paris (Roret): 1-308 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

Wunderlich J (2011a) Extant and fossil spiders (Araneae). Heutige und fossile Spinnen. Beiträge zur Araneologie 6: 1-640 pdf

Zamani A, Enayatnia M, Mirshekar A, Mayvan M M, Kováč L, Marusik, Y M (2025a) New data on the spider fauna of Iran (Arachnida: Araneae), part XII. Zootaxa 5601: 1-45 pdf

Zamani A, Nadolny A A, Esyunin S L, Marusik Y M (2022a) New data on the spider fauna of Iran (Arachnida: Araneae), part IX. Arachnology 19: 358-384 pdf

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