Metellina merianae (Scopoli, 1763)
Description
Paracymbium with large dorsal part, projecting and provided with ridges and tubercles. Epigyne with distinctly marked off trapezoid median plate. Prosoma yellowish green, with irregular black stripes, margin black. Sternum black. Chelicerae red-brown. Legs yellowish green, annulated and spotted irregularly with black. Opisthosoma greenish, brownish to almost black, dorsally with vague folium, ventrally with broad, dark median part.
Body length male: 7.5-8 mmBody length female: 7.3-12 mm
Additional information
On rocks, walls and in caves, always near creeks or at other places with high humidity.
Rare variant: with broad median stripe on the opisthosoma (see https://wiki.arages.de/images/d/d5/Metellina-merianae_EckhartDerschmidt.jpg).
Troglophile species (Mammola et al. 2018b)
Frequency: Widely distributed
Distribution
Phenology
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
 |  |
Figures
Pedipalp, ventral view
(Roberts 1995)
Pedipalp, ventral view
(Wiehle 1931)
Pedipalp, ventral view
(Loksa 1972)
Pedipalp, ventral view
(Locket & Millidge 1953)
Pedipalp, retrolateral view
(Løvbrekke unpubl.)
Pedipalp, ventral view
(Morano 2020)
Embolus
(Locket et al. 1974)
Epigyne
(Roberts 1995)
Epigyne
(Wiehle 1931)
Epigyne
(Locket & Millidge 1953)
Epigyne
(Loksa 1972)
Epigyne
(Løvbrekke unpubl.)
Epigyne, posterior view
(Morano 2020)
Epigyne, ventral view
(Morano 2020)
Vulva
(Heimer & Nentwig 1991)
Vulva
(Løvbrekke unpubl.)
Prosoma, dorsal view
(Løvbrekke unpubl.)
Distribution List
References
Aakra K, Hauge E (2003) Checklist of Norwegian spiders (Arachnida: Araneae), including Svalbard and Jan Mayen. Norwegian Journal of Entomology 50: 109-129 
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)
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
Cera I (2018) The checklist of Latvian spiders (Arachnida: Araneae). Environmental and Experimental Biology 16: 139-152
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
Heimer S, Nentwig W (1991) Spinnen Mitteleuropas. Paul Parey Berlin
Komnenov M (2010) Checklist of spiders (Araneae) of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Uzizaž i Biospeld 5(2009): 52-69
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
Kostanjšek R, Kuntner M (2015) Araneae Sloveniae: a national spider species checklist. ZooKeys 474: 1-91
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
Kronestedt T (2001) Checklist of Spiders (Araneae) in Sweden [Preliminary version February 2001]
Lissner J, Jensen J-K, Hansen L J, Simonsen W, Kelduni R, Nissen K (2016b) An updated checklist of spiders (Araneae) of the Faroe Islands. Norwegian Journal of Entomology 63: 197-240
Locket G H, Millidge A F (1953) British spiders. Vol. II. Ray Society, London, 449 pp.
Locket G H, Millidge A F, Merrett P (1974) British Spiders, Volume III. Ray Society, London, 315 pp.
Loksa I (1972) Pokok II-Araneae II. Fauna Hungariae 109: 1-112
Løvbrekke H (unpubl.)
Mammola S, Cardoso P, Ribera C, Pavlek M, Isaia M (2018b) A synthesis on cave-dwelling spiders in Europe. Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research 56: 301-316
Morano E (2020) La familia Tetragnathidae Menge, 1866 (Araneae) en el área ibero-balear. Revista Ibérica de Aracnología 37: 101-136
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
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
Roberts M J (1995) Collins Field Guide: Spiders of Britain & Northern Europe. HarperCollins, London, 383 pp.
Samu F, Szinetár C (1999) Bibliographic check list of the Hungarian spider fauna. Bulletin of the British Arachnological Society 11: 161-184
Staudt A, Weber D, Nährig D (2013) Webspinnen (Arachnida, Araneae) aus Höhlen des Großherzogtums Luxemburg. Ferrantia 69: 115-157
Vrenozi B, Jäger P (2013) Spiders (Araneae) from Albania and Kosovo in the collection of Carl Friedrich Roewer. Arachnologische Mitteilungen 46: 17-26
Wiehle H (1931) Spinnentiere oder Arachnoidea, VI. 27: Familie Araneidae. Die Tierwelt Deutschlands 23: 47-136
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