Stats

Lifespan

Annual

Size

Tiny

Diet

Insectivore

Activity

Diurnal

Social

Solitary

Biome

Temperate grassland

Range

Europe and Asia

Movement

Walking

Breeding

Egg-laying

Defense

Camouflage

Status

Rare

About

This small spider lives in grassy fields and leaf litter across much of the globe. It constructs a flat, horizontal sheet web that captures insects falling from above.

Life cycle

1. 1.
   egg sac

   A silk-wrapped egg sac shelters a clutch of eggs until the young are ready to emerge.
2. 2.
   juvenile

   A spiderling emerges from the egg sac already in miniature adult form and starts catching prey almost immediately.
3. 3.
   subadult

   A near-adult arachnid molts through several instars, growing larger and developing mature markings.
4. 4.
   adult

   Fully grown after its final molt.

Learn more

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Taxonomy

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Arachnida

Order

Araneae

Family

Linyphiidae

Genus

Tenuiphantes

Species

Tenuiphantes tenuis