| | The spider families of Britain and Ireland |
Mesh-webbed Spiders.
Morphology. The adult spiders 1–4 mm long; of medium build to decidedly plump-bodied, or decidedly plump-bodied; decidedly short-legged (from about as long as the body to about 1.5 times as long); with eight eyes. The eyes in two horizontal rows of 4; light, except for the dark anterior medians. The palpal organs of the male of complex structure and enclosed by the specialized, hollowed tarsal segment (the cymbium). Metatarsus IV not concave above. Metatarsus IV of the females with a dorsal series of curved bristles (the calamistrum, which is reduced in the males); the bristles in a single row. Tarsal claws 3. The abdomen conspicuously patterned dorsally; exhibiting red or pink colour, but neither predominantly bright red and black nor predominantly bright red and yellow, or without any red coloration (yellowish to green with white spots, or in Nigma sometimes entirely red, or with a red stripe). The abdomen of the females furnished with a plate-like cribellum anterior to the spinnerets (this being reduced in the males).
The adults making snare-webs; constructing horizontal sheet webs (these fuzzy, in plant inflorescences or across leaves).
Representation in Britain and Ireland. 15 species in Britain; in the genera Altella, Argenna, Dictyna, Lathys, and Nigma.
Illustrations. • Dyctina arundinacea. Dictyna arundinacea (Linn.): a, female; b, male; c, eyes; d. mouthparts; e, cephalothorax and palpus of the male, in profile; f, spinnerets; g, palpus of the male; h, the latter, in side view; cocoon, attached to Carex cf. nigra. From Blackwall (1861). • Lathys humilis, Dictyna latens. 92, Lathys humilis (Bl.), female, 95, Dictyna latens (Fab.): a, female, b, male; c, cocoons, attached to Calluna. From Blackwall (1861). • Nigma puella. Nigma puella (Simon), female. From Blackwall (1861).
We advise against extracting comparative information from the descriptions. This is much more easily achieved using the DELTA data files or the interactive key, which allows access to the character list, illustrations, full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting or lacking specified attributes, and distributions of character states within any set of taxa. See also Guidelines for using data taken from Web publications.
Cite this publication as: ‘Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. 2003 onwards. The spider families of Britain and Ireland. Version: 5th August 2019. delta-intkey.com’.
