Titanoecidae  Lehtinen, 1967 / Titanoeca  Thorell, 1870   17 species

Titanoeca nivalis Simon, 1874

Description
Male

Prosoma light yellow, cephalic part reddish brown. Prosoma length: 2.28-2.68 mm. Chelicerae reddish brown, with several short black spines on lateral sides. Sternum brown. Legs light yellowish brown, femora brown. Opisthosoma: dorsum greyish brown to dark slate-grey, with 2 whitish spots in the middle, venter with a broad greyish brown median band (Almquist, 2006).

Body length male: 4.5-6.0 mm
Female

Colouration as in males, prosoma slightly darker. Prosoma length: 2.36 mm- 2.96 mm.

Body length female: 4.5-7 mm
Additional information

Under stones and dead wood in humid-cool, shadowy places, up to 2600 m

Distribution
  Presence
  No data
Global distribution (WSC 2026): North America, Scandinavia, Pyrenees (Spain, France), Alps (France, Switzerland, Austria, Italy), Georgia, Russia (Middle Siberia to Far East)
Phenology
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
 male  female
Figures
Distribution List
Andorra   (Branco et al., 2019) ||| Austria   (Thaler, 1994b) ||| Finland   (Koponen et al., 2016) ||| France   (Le Peru, 2007) ||| Georgia   (Otto, 2022) ||| Italy   (Isaia et al., 2025) ||| Norway   (Aakra & Hauge, 2003) ||| Spain   (Branco et al., 2019) ||| Sweden   (Kronestedt, 2001) ||| Switzerland   (Maurer & Hänggi, 1990) |||
References

Aakra K, Hauge E (2003) Checklist of Norwegian spiders (Arachnida: Araneae), including Svalbard and Jan Mayen. Norwegian Journal of Entomology 50: 109-129 pdf

Almquist S (2007) Swedish Araneae, part 2 – families Dictynidae to Salticidae. Insect Systematics & Evolution, Supplement 63(2006): 285-601 pdf

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

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

Kronestedt T (2001) Checklist of Spiders (Araneae) in Sweden [Preliminary version February 2001] pdf

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

Leech R (1972) A revision of the nearctic Amaurobiidae (Arachnida: Araneida). Memoirs of the Entomological Society of Canada 84: 1-182 pdf

Løvbrekke H (unpubl.)

Maurer R, Hänggi A (1990) Katalog der schweizerischen Spinnen. Documenta Faunistica Helvetiae 12 pdf

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

Thaler K (1981c) Bemerkenswerte Spinnenfunde in Nordtirol (Österreich) (Arachnida: Aranei). Veröffentlichungen des Museum Ferdinandeum in Innsbruck 61: 105-150 pdf

Thaler K (1994b) Beiträge zur Spinnenfauna von Nordtirol - 2. Orthognathe, cribellate und haplogyne Familien, Phocidae, Zodariidae, Mimetidae sowie Argiopiformia (ohne Linyphiidae s.l.) (Arachnida: Araneida). Mit Bemerkungen zur Spinnenfauna der Ostalpen. Veröffentlichungen des Museum Ferdinandeum in Innsbruck 73(1993): 69-119 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
03-10-2025 Distribution update Detail
28-07-2025 Image insert
04-03-2021 Image insert
04-06-2020 Image insert
05-03-2015 Distribution update Detail