Mimetidae  Simon, 1881 / Ero  C. L. Koch, 1836   9 species

Ero aphana  (Walckenaer, 1802)

Description
Male

Cymbium oval, flat with retrolateral hook-like process. Conductor with a prolateral furrow, additionally round at the end. Embolus originates proximally and ends distally convoluted. Paracymbium with 3-4 pointed processes. Mostly bright coloured species, whitish to light grey with numerous brown and black spots on entire body, sometimes also appearing dark due to fusion of larger, red brown spots. Opisthosoma with 4 tubercles on the back.

Body length male: 2.5 mm
Female

Epigyne with circular copulatory openings separated by a slender septum. The entrance ducts diverge strongly and end in large, round receptacula. 

Body length female: 3.0-4.2 mm
Additional information

On bushes at coniferous forest edges, mostly in warmer areas.

Distribution
  Presence
  No data
Global distribution (WSC 2024): Macaronesia, Europe, North Africa, Turkey, Caucasus, Russia (Europe to Central Asia), Kazakhstan, Iran. Introduced to Réunion, Japan (Ryukyu Is.), China, Philippines, Australia (Queensland, Western Australia)
Phenology
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
 male  female
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.

Algeria   (Benhacene et al., 2023) ||| Andorra   (Branco et al., 2019) ||| Armenia   (Zarikian et al., 2022) ||| Austria   (no references) ||| Azerbaijan   (Otto, 2022) ||| Belgium   (Bosmans & Van Keer, 2017) ||| Bulgaria   (Blagoev et al., 2018) ||| Croatia   (Milosevic, 2002) ||| Cyprus   (Bosmans et al., 2019c) ||| Czechia   (Růžička & Řezáč, 2022a) ||| Denmark   (Lissner & Scharff, 2019) ||| Egypt   (Sawers et al., 2023) ||| France   (no references) ||| France / Corsica   (Le Peru, 2007) ||| Georgia   (Otto, 2022) ||| Germany   (no references) ||| Greece   (no references) ||| Greece / Crete   (no references) ||| Hungary   (Samu & Szinetár, 1999) ||| Italy   (Pantini & Isaia, 2019) ||| Italy / Sardinia   (Pantini & Isaia, 2019) ||| Italy / Sicily   (Pantini & Isaia, 2019) ||| Liechtenstein   (Arnold, 2001) ||| Luxembourg   (Kreuels et al., 2019) ||| Malta   (Rehfeldt & Cassar, 2024) ||| Netherlands   (no references) ||| North Macedonia   (Komnenov, 2014) ||| Poland   (Rozwałka & Stanska, 2008) ||| Portugal   (Branco et al., 2019) ||| Romania   (no references) ||| Russia, Eastern   (no references) ||| Russia, Southern   (Otto, 2022; Ponomarev, 2022) ||| Serbia   (no references) ||| Slovakia   (no references) ||| Slovenia   (Kostanjšek & Kuntner, 2015) ||| Spain   (Branco et al., 2019) ||| Spain / Balearic Islands   (Branco et al., 2019) ||| Switzerland   (no references) ||| Tunisia   (Thaler et al., 2004) ||| Turkey (Asia)   (Danışman et al., 2024a) ||| Turkey (Europe)   (Demircan & Topçu, 2016) ||| Ukraine   (Polchaninova & Prokopenko, 2019) ||| United Kingdom   (Lavery, 2019) |||
References

Arnold K (2001) Beitrag zur Spinnenfauna (Arachnida, Araneae) des Fürstentums Liechtenstein. Berichte der Botanisch-Zoologischen Gesellschaft Liechtenstein-Sargans-Werdenberg 28: 211-244 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

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, 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 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

Danışman T, Kunt K B, Özkütük R S, Coşar İ (2024a) The checklist of the spiders of Turkey. Version 2024 [last updated 01 January 2024], online at http://www.spidersofturkey.info pdf

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

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

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

Lissner J, Scharff N (2019) Danish Spiders. Formerly online at http://www.danmarks-edderkopper.dk pdf

Merrett P, Snazell R G (1975) New and rare British spiders. Bulletin of the British Arachnological Society 3: 106-112 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

Otto S (2022) Caucasian spiders. A faunistic database on the spiders of the Caucasus Ecoregion. Database version 02.2022. 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 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

Rehfeldt S, Cassar T (2024) A contribution to the arachnofauna (Arachnida: Araneae, Opiliones) of the Maltese Islands, with two new records for Europe. Arachnologische Mitteilungen 67: 18-47 pdf

Roberts M J (1995) Collins Field Guide: Spiders of Britain & Northern Europe. HarperCollins, London, 383 pp. pdf

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

Růžička V, Řezáč M (2022a) Seznam pavouků České republiky. List of spiders of the Czech Republic. Online at https://www.arachnology.cz/seznam-pavouku-cr-26.html and https://www.arachnology.cz/en/seznam-pavouku-cr-26.html pdf

Samu F, Szinetár C (1999) Bibliographic check list of the Hungarian spider fauna. Bulletin of the British Arachnological Society 11: 161-184 pdf

Sawers M A R, El-Bishlawy S M O, Hassan M F, Sallam G M S (2023) The first record of Ero aphana (Araneae: Mimetidae) in Egypt. Arab Journal of Plant Protection 41: 15-17 pdf

Thaler K, Harten A van, Knoflach B (2004) Pirate spiders of the genus Ero C.L. Koch from southern Europe, Yemen, and Ivory Coast, with two new species (Arachnida, Araneae, Mimetidae). Denisia 13: 359-368 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 (2024) World Spider Catalog. Version 25.0. Natural History Museum Bern, online at http://wsc.nmbe.ch (22.01.2024) doi: 10.24436/2 pdf

Zarikian N A, Propistsova E A, Marusik Y M (2022) On spider families (Arachnida: Araneae) new to Armenia. Israel Journal of Entomology 51: 103-117 pdf

Updates
21-06-2024 Image insert
17-06-2024 Distribution insert Detail
02-09-2023 Distribution insert Detail
18-04-2023 Distribution insert Detail
18-04-2023 Distribution update Detail
26-05-2022 Distribution insert Detail
06-05-2020 Distribution insert Detail
16-05-2018 Distribution update Detail
24-01-2017 Distribution update Detail