Tegenaria

Tegenaria is a genus of fast-running funnel weavers that occupy much of the Northern Hemisphere except for Japan and Indonesia. It was first described by Pierre André Latreille in 1804, though many of its species have been moved elsewhere. The majority of these were moved to Eratigena, including the giant house spider (Eratigena atrica) and the hobo spider (Eratigena agrestis).

They can be difficult to identify because they resemble wolf spiders and other funnel-web spiders in their area, unless found in an area where they don't occur naturally. They live on sheet webs, usually stretching across the corner between two walls. They have eight eyes in two straight or almost straight rows. Size varies from one species to another, but the body length of adults can range from 10 millimetres (0.39 in) to 20 millimetres (0.79 in), not including the legs. The cardinal spider is the largest funnel weaver, with females that can grow up to 18 millimetres (0.71 in) long.

Description. Male (holotype).Total length9.00.Prosoma: carapace 4.60 long, 3.50 wide. Carapace brownish yellow, with two longitudinal darkened bands (Fig 1), margins not darkened, scarce plumose hairs present. Cephalic region: 1.80 wide, darker and separated from the thoracic region by a distinct, darkened line. PER: 0.9 wide. Diameter of PME: 0.20; PLE: 0.22; AME: 0.10; ALE: 0.22. Distance of PME–PME: 0.10; PME–AME: 0.07. Eye formula: ALE=PLE>PME>AME. Clypeus height (measured from bottom of AME): 0.35, clypeus height (measured from bottom of ALE): 0.30. Clypeus deep reddish brown. Eye rows: AER slightly recurved, PER straight in dorsal view. Eye region darker. Chelicerae: 1.17 long; 0.90 wide. Chelicerae red-brown. Gnathocoxae: 1.32 long; 0.65 wide. Labium: 0.77 long; 0.70 wide. Gnathocoxae and labium brown. Sternum: 2.25 long; 2.22 wide. Sternum heart-shaped, pointed backwards, brown, with a light median band and three pairs of sublateral round spots. Legs light brown, with dark annulations, densely covered with plumose hairs; legs I and II are darker than legs III and IV (Fig. 1). Number of dorsal tarsal trichobothria on tarsi I and III: 10, tarsi II and IV: 9. Leg measurements are given in Table 1, and spine formulae in Table 2. Abdomen: 4.4 long, 2.6 wide; dorsum appears yellowish brown, with a reticulate patter of a series of transverse black lines along the dorsal mid-line and sides. Venter pale brown, with many short hairs and longitudinal black bars between the epigastric furrow and spinnerets. Male palp as in Figs 4–10; very long (femur 5.10, patella 1.00, tibia 2.70, tarsus 2.20, (total 11.00), longer than body. Femur approximately 1.8 times longer than tibia, tibia 1.2 times longer than cymbium. Retrolateral tibial apophysis with two branches: lateral branch in dorsal view elongated and more or less rectangular, in retrolateral view triangular and tapering off towards the tip; broad and rounded latero-ventral branch with a small protuberance close to lateral branch in retrolateral view. Median apophysis long, in ventral view its base is large and broad, tip is claw-like. Conductor long, beak-shaped in ventral view; embolus thick and short in ventral view. Female. Total length 11.40. Prosoma: carapace 5.40 long, 4.00 wide. Carapace light yellow, with two longitudinal darkened bands (Figs 2–3), margins not darkened, scarce hairs present. Cephalic region: 2.40 wide, darker and separated from the thoracic region by a distinct, darkened line. PER: 1.17 wide. Diameter of PME: 0.20; PLE: 0.22; AME: 0.12; ALE: 0.22. Distance of PME–PME: 0.20; PME–AME: 0.25. Eye formula: ALE=PLE>PME>AME. Clypeus height (measured from bottom of AME): 0.42, clypeus height (measured from bottom of ALE): 0.40. Clypeus dark brown. Eye rows: AER slightly recurved, PER straight in dorsal view. Chelicerae: 2.50 long; 1.30 wide. Chelicerae brown. Gnathocoxae: 1.50 long; 0.90 wide. Labium: 0.90 long; 0.80 wide. Gnathocoxae and labium brown, labium slightly longer than wide. Sternum: 2.60 long; 2.40 wide. Sternum heart-shaped, pointed towards rear end, brown, with light median band and three pairs of sublateral round spots. Legs light brown, with dark annulations, densely covered by long hairs, plumose hairs present. Number of dorsal tarsal trichobothria on tarsi I and IV: 11, tarsi II and III: 10. Leg measurements are given in Table 1, and spine formulae in Table 2. Abdomen: 6.00 long, 4.10 wide; dorsum yellowish brown, with a reticulate patter of a series of transverse, thick black lines along the dorsal mid-line and sides (Fig. 2). Venter pale brown, with many short hairs and longitudinal black bars between the epigastric furrow and spinnerets. Epigyne and spermathecae as in Figs 11-16. Fovea absent, median plate square-shaped; copulatory openings almost invisible on intact epigyne, but readily visible following hair removal. Insemination duct short, spermathecae almost round.

Distribution. Turkey, known only from the type locality (Fig. 20).