Linyphiidae  Blackwall, 1859 / Leptorhoptrum  Kulczyński, 1894   1 species

Leptorhoptrum robustum (Westring, 1851)

Description

Cymbium shorter than palpal tibia. Embolus strongly sclerotised. Paracymbium very simple. Epigyne with broad epigynal plate, posterior margin ± straight. Receptacula seminis small and spheroidal, visible through epigyne. Prosoma brown, with dark margin and radial stripes. Sternum brown, tinged with black. Chelicerae brown, robust. Legs yellow-brown, ± short, robust. Opisthosoma grey to almost black.

Body length male: 3-4.2 mm
Body length female: 3-4.8 mm
Additional information

In moss and leaves of damp, cool localities from lowland up to alpine zone.

It has been described that this small species repeatedly bite sewage plant workers (Duffey & Green 1975). It is highly unlikely that a 3 mm linyphiid can bite humans, but other effects such as allergic reactions cannot be excluded. 

Character states from linyphiid key
Distribution
  Presence
  No data
Global distribution (WSC 2026): North America, Europe, Russia (Europe to Far East), Japan
Phenology
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
 male  female
Maximum VI-IX
Figures
Distribution List
Austria   (Thaler, 1995) ||| Belgium   (Bosmans & Van Keer, 2017) ||| Bulgaria   (Blagoev et al., 2018; Naumova et al., 2021) ||| Czechia   (Růžička & Řezáč, 2022a) ||| Denmark   (Scharff & Gudik-Sørensen, 2006) ||| Faroe Islands   (Lissner et al., 2016b) ||| Finland   (Koponen et al., 2016) ||| France   (Le Peru, 2007) ||| Germany   (Blick et al., 2016) ||| Iceland   (Agnarsson, 1996) ||| Ireland   (Lavery, 2019) ||| Italy   (Isaia et al., 2025) ||| Latvia   (Cera, 2018) ||| Liechtenstein   (Arnold, 2001) ||| Luxembourg   (Kreuels et al., 2019) ||| Netherlands   (van Helsdingen, 2025a) ||| Northern Ireland   (Lavery, 2019) ||| Norway   (Aakra & Hauge, 2003) ||| Poland   (Rozwałka & Stanska, 2008) ||| Romania   (Weiss & Petrișor, 1999) ||| Russia, Central   (Ponomarev, 2022) ||| Russia, Eastern   (Esyunin & Efimik, 1996a) ||| Russia, Northern   (Nekhaeva, 2020; Koponen et al., 1998) ||| Russia, Southern   (Ponomarev, 2022) ||| Russia, Western   (no references) ||| Slovakia   (Gajdoš et al., 1999) ||| Sweden   (Kronestedt, 2001) ||| Switzerland   (Maurer & Hänggi, 1990) ||| Ukraine   (Gnelitsa, 2004b) ||| United Kingdom   (Lavery, 2019) |||
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

Agnarsson I (1996) Íslenskar köngulær Fjölrit Náttúrufræðistofnunar 31: 1-175 pdf

Arnold K (2001) Beitrag zur Spinnenfauna (Arachnida, Araneae) des Fürstentums Liechtenstein. Berichte der Botanisch-Zoologischen Gesellschaft Liechtenstein-Sargans-Werdenberg 28: 211-244 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, Van Keer K (2017) Een herziene soortenlijst van de Belgische spinnen (Araneae). Nieuwsbrief van de Belgische Arachnologische Vereniging 32: 39-69 pdf

Cera I (2018) The checklist of Latvian spiders (Arachnida: Araneae). Environmental and Experimental Biology 16: 139-152 pdf

Duffey E, Green M B (1975) A linyphiid spider biting workers on a sewage-treatment plant. Bulletin of the British Arachnological Society 3: 130-131 pdf

Esyunin S L, Efimik V E (1996a) Catalogue of the spiders (Arachnida, Aranei) of the Urals. KMK Scientific Press, Moscow, 228 pp. pdf

Gajdoš P, Svatoň J, Sloboda J (1999) Katalóg pavúkov Slovenska. Catalogue of Slovakian spiders. Ústav kr. ekol. SAV, Bratislava, 337 pp.

Gnelitsa V A (2004b) [Preliminary data on spiders of the family Linyphiidae of the Vyzhnitsky National Nature Park (Carpathians, Ukraine)]. Nature Reserves in Ukraine 10: 86-89 pdf

Helsdingen P J van (2025a) Catalogus van de Nederlandse spinnen. Versie 2025.1. 249 pp. 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

Koponen S, Marusik Y M, Tanasevitch A V (1998) New data on the spider fauna of the Polar Urals (Aranei). Arthropoda Selecta 6: 109-119 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

Kronestedt T (2001) Checklist of Spiders (Araneae) in Sweden [Preliminary version February 2001] 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, Jensen J-K, Hansen L J, Simonsen W, Kelduni R, Nissen K (2016b) An updated checklist of spiders (Araneae) of the Faroe Islands. Norwegian Journal of Entomology 63: 197-240 pdf

Locket G H, Millidge A F (1953) British spiders. Vol. II. Ray Society, London, 449 pp. pdf

Løvbrekke H (unpubl.)

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

Morka G H (unpubl.)

Naumova M, Blagoev G, Deltshev D (2021) Fifty spider species new to the Bulgarian fauna, with a review of some dubious species (Arachnida: Araneae). Zootaxa 4984: 228-257 pdf

Nekhaeva A A (2020) On the spider fauna (Arachnida: Aranei) of the Kanin Peninsula and Kolguev Island, Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Russia. Arthropoda Selecta 29: 387-398 pdf

Nentwig W, Gnädinger M, Fuchs J, Ceschi A (2013) A two year study of verified spider bites in Switzerland and a review of the European spider bite literature. Toxicon 73: 104-110 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

Roberts M J (1987) The spiders of Great Britain and Ireland. Volume 2: Linyphiidae and checklist. Harley Books Colchester, England, 204 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

Scharff N, Gudik-Sørensen O (2006) Katalog over Danmarks edderkopper (Araneae). Catalogue of the spiders of Denmark (Araneae). Entomologiske Meddelelser 74: 3-71 pdf

Thaler K (1995) Beiträge zur Spinnenfauna von Nordtirol - 5. Linyphiidae 1: Linyphiinae (sensu Wiehle) (Arachnida: Araneida). Berichte des Naturwissenschaftlich-Medizinischen Vereins in Innsbruck 82: 153-190 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

Wiehle H (1956) Spinnentiere oder Arachnoidea, X. 28: Familie Linyphiidae-Baldachinspinnen. Die Tierwelt Deutschlands 44: 1-337 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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