Titanoecidae  Lehtinen, 1967 / Nurscia  Simon, 1874   4 species

Nurscia albomaculata (Lucas, 1846)

Description

Epigyne strongly sclerotised with clearly visible copulatory openings. Prosoma red-brown. Sternum black-brown. Chelicerae black-brown. Legs red-brown. Femur darker. Opisthosoma dorsally with 4-6 pairs of small, white spots, velvety haired, black-brownish red.

Body length male: 10-11 mm
Body length female: 6.6-11 mm
Additional information

under stones on sunny slopes

Distribution
  Presence
  Not established
  No data
Global distribution (WSC 2026): Europe, Turkey, Egypt to Central Asia
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) ||| Azerbaijan   (Otto, 2022) ||| Bulgaria   (Blagoev et al., 2018) ||| Cyprus   (Bosmans et al., 2019c) ||| Egypt   (El-Hennawy, 2017a) ||| France   (Le Peru, 2007) ||| France / Corsica   (Le Peru, 2007) ||| Georgia   (Seropian et al., 2023b) ||| Germany   (Blick et al., 2016) ||| Greece   (Bosmans & Chatzaki, 2005) ||| Greece / Crete   (Bosmans & Chatzaki, 2005) ||| Italy   (Isaia et al., 2025) ||| Italy / Sardinia   (Isaia et al., 2025) ||| Italy / Sicily   (Dentici & Galasso, 2021) ||| Libya   (Elkrew et al., 2024) ||| Malta   (Pfliegler et al., 2017) ||| Morocco   (Benhalima & Bosmans, 2024) ||| North Macedonia   (Komnenov, 2014) ||| Poland   (Rozwałka et al., 2017a) ||| Portugal   (Branco et al., 2019) ||| Romania   (Weiss & Petrișor, 1999) ||| Russia, Southern   (Otto, 2022; Ponomarev, 2022) ||| Slovenia   (Kostanjšek & Kuntner, 2015) ||| Spain   (Branco et al., 2019) ||| Spain / Balearic Islands   (Branco et al., 2019) ||| Tunisia   (Kmira et al., 2025) ||| Turkey (Asia)   (Danışman et al., 2025a) ||| Turkey (Europe)   (Demircan Aksan & Topçu, 2022c) ||| Ukraine   (Polchaninova & Prokopenko, 2019) |||
References

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

Al-Khailani M A, Al-Khazali A M (2026) First record of Pandava Lehtinen, 1967, in the Middle East, with a new record of Nurscia albomaculata (Lucas, 1846) (Araneae: Titanoecidae) from Iraq. Ecologica Montenegrina 94: 254-263 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

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

Dentici A, Galasso P (2021) Checklist of spiders and Opiliones (Arachnida Araneae, Opiliones) of Sicilian southest swamp lakes "Pantano Cuba", "Pantano Longarini" and “Pantano Bruno” (Italy). Fifth contribution to knowledge of Sicilian spider fauna Biodiversity Journal 21: 695-703 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

Heimer S, Nentwig W (1991) Spinnen Mitteleuropas. Paul Parey Berlin pdf

Hubert M (1966) Remarques sur quelques espèces d'araignées appartenant au genre Titanoeca Thorell 1870. Bulletin du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle de Paris 38: 238-246 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

Komnenov M (2014) Spider fauna of the Osogovo Mt. Range, Northeastern Macedonia. Fauna Balkana 2: 1-267 pdf

Kostanjšek R, Kuntner M (2015) Araneae Sloveniae: a national spider species checklist. ZooKeys 474: 1-91 pdf

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

Millidge A F (1993) Further remarks on the taxonomy and relationships of the Linyphiidae, base on the epigynal duct conformations and other characters (Araneae). Bulletin of the British Arachnological Society 9: 145-156 pdf

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

Pesarini C (unpubl.)

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 pdf

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

Ponomarev A V, Shokhin I V, Terskov E N, Shmatko V Y (2018b) Preliminary data on the fauna of spiders (Aranei) of Taman Peninsula and Tuzla Island (Russia). Caucasian Entomological Bulletin 14: 121-129 pdf

Rozwałka R, Rutkowski T, Bielak-Bielecki P (2017a) New data on introduced and rare synanthropic spider species (Arachnida: Araneae) in Poland (II). Annales Universitatis Mariae Curie-Skłodowska, Lublin-Polonia 71: 59-85 pdf

Seropian A, Bulbulashvili N, Otto S, Krammer H-J, Kachlishvili N, Datunashvili A (2023b) Picking pearls from the Silk Road: insights into the spider (Arachnida, Araneae) diversity in Georgia from the Caucasus barcode of life project. Part II. Caucasiana 2: 231-297 pdf

Taberlet J-P (unpubl.)

Weiss I, Petrișor A (1999) List of the spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) from Romania. Travaux du Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle “Grigore Antipa” 41: 79-107 pdf

Wiehle H (1953) Spinnentiere oder Arachnoidea (Araneae), IX. Orthognatha-Cribellata-Haplogynae, Entelegynae (Pholcidae, Zodariidae, Oxyopidae, Mimetidae, Nesticidae). Die Tierwelt Deutschlands 42: 1-150 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

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