Antistea elegans

Antistea elegans
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Infraorder: Araneomorphae
Family: Hahniidae
Genus: Antistea
Species: A. elegans
Binomial name
Antistea elegans
(Blackwall, 1841)[1]
Synonyms[1]
  • Agelena elegans Blackwall, 1841
  • Hahnia pratensis C. L. Koch, 1841
  • Hahnia elegans (Blackwall, 1841)
  • Hahnia propinqua Simon, 1875

Anitistea elegans, the marsh combtail,[2] is a species of dwarf sheet web spider in the family Hahniidae which has a Palearctic distribution.[1]

Description

Antistea elegans are small spiders the males have a body length of 2.3-2.6mm, the females 2.5-4.3mm. Their most obvious feature is the arrangement of their spinners in a transverse row.[3] The prosoma is yellow-brown to reddish yellow, with dark spots while the opisthosoma is dark grey-brown with brighter patches.[4]

Biology

Antistea elegans constructs small sheet webs over depressions in wetland soil, normally underneath plants. The adults have been found mainly in late summer and autumn, although females have been recorded throughout the year.[5]

Habitat

In Great Britain Antistea elegans has been recorded from fens, marshes, upland blanket bogs, lowland raised bogs, seeps and woodland pool-sides. Specimens have been recorded from wet Sphagnum in Snowdonia National Park at 470m.[5] It has been recorded from similar wetland habitats in Germany.[6]

Distribution

Antistea elegans has a Palearctic distribution.[1] It is widespread in Great Britain[5] and Europe[6] as farwest as Ireland, south to Tunisia and east to Japan.[7]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Antistea elegans (Blackwall, 1841)". World Spider Catalog. Natural History Museum Bern. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
  2. ↑ "Antistea elegans". Stefan Sollfors. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
  3. ↑ "Spider of the Month - September". Professor Dave Curtis. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
  4. ↑ "Antistea elegans (Blackwall 1841)". Nentwig W, Blick T, Gloor D, Hänggi A, Kropf C: Spiders of Europe. www.araneae.unibe.ch. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 "Summary for Antistea elegans (Araneae)". British Arachnological Society. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
  6. 1 2 "Antistea elegans (BLACK WALL, 1841)". www.natur-in-nrw.de. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
  7. ↑ "Antistea elegans". British Arachnological Society. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
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