Linyphiidae  Blackwall, 1859 / Caracladus  Simon, 1884   3 species

Caracladus avicula (L. Koch, 1869)

Description

Epigyne with trapezoid median plate, anteriorly wider than posteriorly. Prosoma yellow-blackish to red-brown, with dark pattern, that can also be missing. Male prosoma with bird head-like eye stalk. Legs yellow-brownish. Opisthosoma blackish.

Body length male: 2.2 mm
Body length female: 1.8-2.2 mm
Additional information

in moss and litter of subalpine coniferous forests

Character states from linyphiid key
Distribution
  Presence
  No data
Global distribution (WSC 2026): France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Italy
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.

Austria   (Thaler, 1999b) ||| France   (Le Peru, 2007) ||| Germany   (Blick et al., 2016) ||| Italy   (Isaia et al., 2025) ||| Romania   (Weiss & Petrișor, 1999) ||| Switzerland   (Maurer & Hänggi, 1990) |||
References

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

Frick H, Muff P (2009) Revision of the genus Caracladus with the description of Caracladus zamoniensis spec. nov. (Araneae, Linyphiidae, Erigoninae). Zootaxa 1982: 1-37 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

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

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

Thaler K (1969) Über einige wenig bekannte Zwergspinnen aus Tirol (Arachn., Araneae, Erigonidae). Berichte des Naturwissenschaftlich-Medizinischen Vereins in Innsbruck 57: 195-219 pdf

Thaler K (1972a) Über einige wenig bekannte Zwergspinnen aus den Alpen, II (Arachn., Araneae, Erigonidae). Berichte des Naturwissenschaftlich-Medizinischen Vereins in Innsbruck 59: 29-50 pdf

Thaler K (1999b) Beiträge zur Spinnenfauna von Nordtirol - 6. Linyphiidae 2: Erigoninae (sensu Wiehle) (Arachnida: Araneida). Veröffentlichungen des Tiroler Landesmuseums Ferdinandeum 79: 215-264 pdf

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

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

Updates
31-08-2025 Distribution update Detail
21-11-2020 Datasheet update Detail