Theridiidae  Sundevall, 1833 / Steatoda  Sundevall, 1833   20 species

Steatoda latifasciata  (Simon, 1873)

Description
Male

Prosoma deep brown with striae. Sternum purplish black. Chelicerae relatively slender. Legs yellowish to dark brown. Opisthosoma purplish black, with white markings dorsally and a white median line ventrally.

Body length male: 3.5 mm
Female

Colouration as in male.

Body length female: 3.8-6.1 mm
Additional information

Under stones, in burrows and in fissures. Egg sac about 5 mm in diameter, with over 30 eggs.

Distribution
  Presence
  No data
Global distribution (WSC 2025): Canary Is., Italy (Sicily), North Africa, Israel, Jordan
Phenology
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
 male  female
Adults of both sexes probably all the year.
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.

Algeria   (Benhacene et al., 2023) ||| Egypt   (El-Hennawy, 2017a) ||| Italy / Sicily   (Pantini & Isaia, 2019) ||| Morocco   (Van Keer et al., 2024; Benhalima & Bosmans, 2024) ||| Tunisia   (Bosmans, 2003) |||
References

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

Benhalima S, Bosmans R (2024) First historical checklist of spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) from Morocco, between 1840–2024. Zootaxa 5555: 407-535 pdf

Bosmans R (2003) A checklist of the spiders of Tunisia, with description of a new species of Palliduphantes Saaristo & Tanasevitch (Araneae: Linyphiidae). Kaupia - Darmstädter Beiträge zur Naturgeschichte 12: 89-109 pdf

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

Levy G, Amitai P (1982b) The cobweb spider genus Steatoda (Araneae, Theridiidae) of Israel and Sinai. Zoologica Scripta 11: 13-30 pdf

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

Van Keer J, Bosselaers J, Oger P (2024) Description of four new Steatoda species (Araneae: Theridiidae) from the Mediterranean region with notes on some related species. Journal of the Belgian Arachnological Society 39(2, suppl.): 1-77 pdf

WSC (2025) World Spider Catalog. Version 26. Natural History Museum Bern, online at http://wsc.nmbe.ch (28.2.2025) doi: 10.24436/2 pdf

Updates
15-05-2025 Image insert
15-05-2025 Distribution update Detail
26-07-2024 Image insert
23-07-2024 Distribution update Detail
23-07-2024 Distribution insert Detail
06-03-2024 Distribution update Detail