| Leafcurling Sac Spiders (Clubiona sp. (Latreille, 1804)) |
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Scientific name: Clubiona sp. (Latreille, 1804) Common name: Leafcurling Sac Spiders French name: Clubiona sp. Order: Araneae Family: Clubionidae Size: Biotope: Web: No web used for hunting. They shelter inside a silken retreat. Observation period: In Europe, 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: Worldwide, missing in Antarctica and in extreme northern regions, only found in Chile in South America. |
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 and you can only remain at Clubiona sp. Here is some information on the French species that you can sometimes identify on pictures. Clubiona corticalis's abdomen is showing a pale longitudinal patch followed by pale chevrons and it is bearing an elongated dark grey cardiac patch ending with a sharp point. The cephalothorax is reddish brown and the chelicerae are blackish brown. Clubiona comta also shows the same pattern but it is a smaller size. Clubiona leucaspis shows a rounded white patch on the upper side of the abdomen. |
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I have measured a size of 6 mm for this specimen which has been very cooperative during the photo session. |
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As with many species of this genus it is not possible to tell more than Clubiona sp with only pictures. |
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I am planning to write a small page about the eye patterns of the different spider families. It is quite possible that this picture will be part of the selection. |
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Amaurobiidae, Agelenidae, and Clubionidae have similar eye arrangements. Clubionidae, as here, have the eyes of the upper row widely spaced compared to the other two families. |
André Bon January 2025