| Bark Sac Spider (Clubiona corticalis (Walckenaer, 1802)) |
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Scientific name: Clubiona corticalis (Walckenaer, 1802) Common name: Bark Sac Spider French name: Clubiona corticalis Order: Araneae Family: Clubionidae Size: 7-11 mm. Biotope: Coniferous forest, mainly under the bark of dead trees, also sometimes under stones and rather often inside houses. Web: No web used for hunting. They shelter inside a silken retreat. Observation period: Adults are observed from March to November. Females generally die late summer but some of them over winter. This species generally over winters as immature spiders. Geographic area: Europe and central Asia. |
Spiders of the Clubionidae family are active during the night and wander to find preys. They shelter inside a silken retreat located under rocks, under leaves or under tree bark. The eight eyes of similar size are rounded. The four fore eyes (lower row) are regularly aligned along a short straight segment. They are rather close from each other and the gap between two eyes is clearly shorter than the eye diameter. The four hind eyes are more distant from each other. The gap between two eyes is clearly longer than the eye diameter (I have measured a value of 1.5 to 2 diameters). This eye row draws a light curve. The spinneret are conical-shaped. There are 30 species listed as present in France and all of them belong to the Clubiona genus. You cannot identify most of these species with only pictures. However you can recognize Clubiona corticalis with its abdomen showing a dark grey cardiac patch ending with a sharp point and followed by pale chevrons. Clubiona comta also shows the same pattern but it is a smaller size. The cephalothorax is reddish brown and the chelicerae are blackish brown. |
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I have observed this male inside the house. You can clearly see the chevrons and the cardiac patch on the abdomen. |
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Here is another specimen observed inside the house. I think that this one is a female. You can clearly see the eye pattern which is also shared by other families such as Anyphaenidae per example. |
André Bon November 2016