Theridiidae  Sundevall, 1833 / Theridion  Walckenaer, 1805   63 species

Theridion melanurum Hahn, 1831

Description
Male

Conductor ± circular. Palp: tibia as long as bulb. Prosoma 1-1.6 mm long. Characters as in female, but epigastric area markedly bulging.

Body length male: 2.5-4.5 mm
Female

Epigyne with posteriorly indented groove. Vulva with double-looped entrance ducts. Prosoma dark brown, suffused with black, margin black. Prosoma 1-1.6 mm long. Sternum dark brown. Legs light brown, with thin black annulations. Opisthosoma colour very variable, dorsally with bright longitudinal band.

Body length female: 2.5-4.6 mm
Additional information

In crevices and mural chinks (but not together with T. betteni), in the mountains up to 1500 m.

Distribution
  Presence
  No data
Global distribution (WSC 2026): Macaronesia, North Africa, Europe, Turkey, Caucasus, Russia (Europe to Middle Siberia), Middle East. Introduced to Canada, USA
Phenology
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
 male  female
Peak between April and July.
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.

Albania   (Deltshev et al., 2011b) ||| Algeria   (Benhacene et al., 2023) ||| Andorra   (Branco et al., 2019) ||| Azerbaijan   (Otto, 2022) ||| Belarus   (Zhukovets, 2017) ||| Belgium   (Bosmans & Van Keer, 2017) ||| Bulgaria   (Blagoev et al., 2018) ||| Croatia   (Milosevic, 2002) ||| Cyprus   (Bosmans et al., 2019c) ||| Czechia   (Růžička & Řezáč, 2022a) ||| Denmark   (Scharff & Gudik-Sørensen, 2006) ||| Estonia   (Vilbaste, 1987) ||| Finland   (Koponen et al., 2016) ||| France   (Le Peru, 2007) ||| France / Corsica   (Le Peru, 2007) ||| Georgia   (Otto, 2022) ||| Germany   (Blick et al., 2016) ||| Greece   (Bosmans & Chatzaki, 2005) ||| Greece / Crete  Removed (Bosmans & Chatzaki, 2005; Bosmans et al., 2013) ||| Hungary   (Samu & Szinetár, 1999) ||| Ireland   (Lavery, 2019) ||| Italy   (Isaia et al., 2025) ||| Italy / Sardinia   (Isaia et al., 2025) ||| Italy / Sicily   (Isaia et al., 2025) ||| Latvia   (Cera, 2018) ||| Luxembourg   (Kreuels et al., 2019) ||| Moldova   (Vasiliev & Mikhailov, 2023) ||| Morocco   (Benhalima & Bosmans, 2024) ||| Netherlands   (van Helsdingen, 2025a) ||| North Macedonia   (Deltshev et al., 2013) ||| Northern Ireland   (Lavery, 2019) ||| Poland   (Rozwałka & Stanska, 2008) ||| Portugal   (Branco et al., 2019) ||| Romania   (Weiss & Petrișor, 1999) ||| Russia, Central   (no references) ||| Russia, Eastern   (Esyunin & Efimik, 1996a) ||| Russia, Southern   (Otto, 2022; Ponomarev, 2022) ||| Russia, Western   (no references) ||| Serbia   (Stanković, 2023) ||| Slovakia   (Gajdoš et al., 1999) ||| Slovenia   (Kostanjšek & Kuntner, 2015) ||| Spain   (Branco et al., 2019) ||| Sweden   (Almquist, 2006) ||| Switzerland   (Maurer & Hänggi, 1990) ||| Tunisia   (Kmira et al., 2025) ||| Turkey (Asia)   (Danışman et al., 2025a) ||| Turkey (Europe)   (Demircan & Topçu, 2016; Demircan Aksan & Topçu, 2022c) ||| Ukraine   (Polchaninova & Prokopenko, 2019) ||| United Kingdom   (Lavery, 2019) |||
References

Aakra K (2000a) New records of spiders (Araneae) from Norway with notes on epigynal characters of Philodromus fuscomarginatus (De Geer) (Philodromidae) and Araneus sturmi (Hahn) (Araneidae). Norwegian Journal of Entomology 47: 77-88 pdf

Almquist S (2006) Swedish Araneae, part 1 – families Atypidae to Hahniidae (Linyphiidae excluded). Insect Systematics & Evolution, Supplement 62(2005): 1-284 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

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

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, Van Keer J, Russell-Smith A, Kronestedt T, Alderweireldt M, Bosselaers J, De Koninck H (2013) Spiders of Crete (Araneae). A catalogue of all currently known species from the Greek island of Crete. Nieuwsbrief van de Belgische Arachnologische Vereniging 28 (Suppl. 1): 1-147 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

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

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

Deltshev C, Komnenov M, Blagoev G, Georgiev T, Lazarov S, Stojkoska E, Naumova M (2013) Faunistic diversity of spiders (Araneae) in Galichitsa Mountain (FYR Macedonia). Biodiversity Data Journal 1(e977): 1-70 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 Aksan N, Topçu A (2022c) A preliminary checklist of the spider fauna of European Türkiye. Serket 19: 39-56 pdf

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

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

Kmira G, Nasri-Ammar, Petillon J, Bosmans R (2025) Catalog of the spiders of Tunisia (Arachnida: Araneae). Zootaxa 5641: 1-95 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

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

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

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Milosevic B (2002) Aranea – Popis vrsta – Checklist. Hrvatsko entomološko društvo – Inventar entomofaune Hrvatske [Aranea – List of species – Checklist. Croatian Entomological Society – Inventory of Croatian entomofauna]. pdf

Otto S (2022) Caucasian spiders. A faunistic database on the spiders of the Caucasus Ecoregion. Database version 02.2022. Internet: caucasus-spiders.info.

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

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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

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