Liocranidae  Simon, 1897 / Mesiotelus  Simon, 1897   15 species

Mesiotelus tenuissimus (L. Koch, 1866)

Description
Body length male: 4 mm
Body length female: 6.4 mm
Distribution
  Presence
  No data
Global distribution (WSC 2026): Southern Europe, North Africa, Cyprus, Turkey, Jordan, Turkmenistan
Phenology
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
 male  female
Figures
Distribution List
Albania   (Deltshev et al., 2011b) ||| Algeria   (Benhacene et al., 2023) ||| Bulgaria   (Blagoev et al., 2018) ||| Croatia   (Milosevic, 2002) ||| Cyprus   (Bosmans et al., 2019c) ||| Egypt   (El-Hennawy, 2017a) ||| France   (Le Peru, 2007) ||| France / Corsica   (Le Peru, 2007) ||| Greece   (Bosmans et al., 2009) ||| Italy   (Isaia et al., 2025) ||| Italy / Sardinia   (Isaia et al., 2025) ||| Italy / Sicily   (Isaia et al., 2025) ||| Libya   (Elkrew et al., 2024) ||| Malta   (Pfliegler et al., 2017) ||| Morocco   (Benhalima & Bosmans, 2024) ||| North Macedonia   (Blagoev, 2002) ||| Portugal   (Branco et al., 2019) ||| Spain   (Branco et al., 2019) ||| Spain / Balearic Islands   (Branco et al., 2019) ||| Tunisia   (Bosmans, 2003) ||| Turkey (Asia)   (Danışman et al., 2025a; Coşar et al., 2023a) ||| Ukraine   (Kovblyuk et al., 2008a) |||
References

Barrientos J A, Urones M C (1985) La colección de araneidos del Departamento de Zoología de la Universidad de Salamanca, V: arañas clubionoideas y tomisoideas. Boletín de la Asociación Española de Entomología 9: 349-366 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 (2002) Check list of Macedonian spiders (Araneae). Acta Zoologica Bulgarica 54: 9-34 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

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

Bosmans R (2023) New or rare spiders from Crete (Araneae: Agelenidae, Dysderidae, Liocranidae, Salticidae), with the description of a new genus in the Agelenidae. Journal of the Belgian Arachnological Society 38: 17-38 pdf

Bosmans R, Baert L, Bosselaers J, De Koninck H, Maelfait J-P, Van Keer J (2009) Spiders of Lesbos (Greece). Nieuwsbrief van de Belgische Arachnologische Vereniging 24(suppl.): 1-70 pdf

Bosmans R, El-Hennawy H K (2018) Mesiotelus alexandrinus (Simon, 1880) is a junior synonym of Mesiotelus tenuissimus (L. Koch, 1866) (Araneae: Liocranidae). Serket 16: 100-104 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

Brignoli P M, Gaddini A (1979) Nuovi dati su alcuni Anyphaenidae, Liocranidae e Gnaphosidae italiani. Bollettino dell'Associazione Romana di Entomologia 34: 10-15 pdf

Coşar İ, Danışman T, Erdek M (2023a) The genus Mesiotelus Simon, 1897 (Araneae: Liocranidae) in Turkey. Caucasian Entomological Bulletin 19: 9-13 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

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

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

Kovblyuk M M, Nadolny A A, Gnelitsa V A, Zhukovets E M (2008a) Spiders (Arachnida, Aranei) of the Martyan Cape Reserve (Crimea, Ukraine). Caucasian Entomological Bulletin 4: 3-40 pdf

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

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

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

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

Updates
22-07-2025 Distribution update Detail
11-01-2025 Distribution update Detail
02-12-2024 Distribution update Detail
18-08-2023 Image insert
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26-01-2023 Distribution update Detail
28-05-2022 Distribution update Detail
25-11-2018 Image insert
25-02-2014 Image insert
05-12-2013 Distribution update Detail
15-10-2013 Distribution update Detail