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Cheiracanthium
Genus of spiders From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Cheiracanthium, commonly called yellow sac spiders, is a genus of araneomorph spiders in the family Cheiracanthiidae, and was first described by Carl Ludwig Koch in 1839.[4] They are usually pale in colour, and have an abdomen that can range from yellow to beige. Both sexes range in size from 5 to 10 millimetres (0.20 to 0.39 in). They are unique among common house spiders because their tarsi do not point either outward, like members of Tegenaria, or inward, like members of Araneus, making them easier to identify.
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a) claws
b) tarsus
c) metatarsus
d) tibia
e) patella
f) femur
g) trochanter
h) coxa
i) pedipalp
k) setae
m) prosoma (cephalothorax)
n) opisthosoma (abdomen)
o) spinnerets
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Venom
Though they are beneficial predators in agricultural fields, they are also known to be mildly venomous to humans. Painful bites may be incurred from species such as C. punctorium in Europe, C. mildei in Europe and North America, C. inclusum in the Americas, C. lawrencei in South Africa and C. japonicum in Japan.[5] Cheiracanthium venom is purportedly necrotic, and can cause pain, swelling, and lesions in humans,[5] but the necrotic nature and severity of its bite has been disputed.[6] A study of twenty confirmed Cheiracanthium bites in the United States and Australia found that none resulted in necrosis, and a review of the international literature on 39 verified Cheiracanthium bites found only one case of mild necrosis in the European species C. punctorium.[6]
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Misconceptions
A theory that these spiders were attracted to the smell of gasoline was involved in a series of consumer vehicle callbacks in which spiderwebs had blocked fuel lines, but it has since been disproven by a study which found that the juvenile yellow sac spiders were attracted to the hose material itself.[7]
Species
Summarize
Perspective
Cheiracanthium is primarily an Old World genus, with many species found from northern Europe to Japan, from Southern Africa to India and Australia. The only known species in the New World are C. inclusum and C. mildei. While the former also occurs in Africa and Réunion, the latter is found in the Holarctic region and Argentina. They can also be found in the lower mainland of British Columbia, Canada. The genus is quite diverse in Africa and at least three or four species are known to occur in Egyptian cotton fields alone.[1] As of May 2025[update], the World Spider Catalog accepts 231 species, found in the Caribbean, South America, Oceania, Europe, Central America, Africa, Asia, North America, and on Saint Helena:[1]
- C. abbreviatum Simon, 1878 – France, Denmark
- C. aculeatum Simon, 1884 – Africa
- C. aden Lotz, 2007 – Yemen
- C. adjacens O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1885 – China (Yarkand), Karakorum
- C. adjacensoides Song, Chen & Hou, 1990 – India, China, Taiwan, Philippines
- C. africanum Lessert, 1921 – Africa, Madagascar, Réunion
- C. aizwalense Biswas & Biswas, 2007 – India
- C. aladanense Lotz, 2007 – Yemen
- C. albidulum (Blackwall, 1859) – Madeira
- C. algarvense Wunderlich, 2012 – Portugal, Spain; synonym of Cheiracanthium annulipes
- C. ambrense Lotz, 2014 – Madagascar
- C. ampijoroa Lotz, 2014 – Madagascar
- C. andamanense (Tikader, 1977) - India
- C. andranomay Lotz, 2014 – Madagascar
- C. angolense Lotz, 2007 – Angola, Zimbabwe, South Africa
- C. angulitarse Simon, 1878 – Spain, France (Corsica), Italy, Hungary, Romania
- C. anjozorobe Lotz, 2014 – Madagascar
- C. annulipes O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1872 – Spain, Egypt, Israel
- C. antungense Chen & Huang, 2012 – Taiwan
- C. apia Platnick, 1998 – Samoa
- C. approximatum O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1885 – China (Yarkand)
- C. arcilongum Li & Zhang, 2023 – China
- C. ashleyi Lotz, 2014 – Madagascar
- C. auenati Caporiacco, 1936 – Libya
- C. auriculatum Zhang, Zhang & Yu, 2018 – China
- C. bannaensis Li & Zhang, 2024 – China
- C. bantaengi Merian, 1911 – Indonesia (Sulawesi)
- C. barbarum (Lucas, 1846) – Algeria
- C. bawanglingense Li & Zhang, 2024 – China (Hainan)
- C. bifurcatum Li & Zhang, 2024 – China
- C. boendense Lotz, 2015 – Congo
- C. brevicalcaratum L. Koch, 1873 – Indonesia (Lombok), Australia (Western Australia)
- C. brevidens Kroneberg, 1875 – Central Asia
- C. brevispinum Song, Feng & Shang, 1982 – China, Korea
- C. buri Esyunin & Efimik, 202 - Russia
- C. campestre Lohmander, 1944 – Sweden, Denmark, Central Europe, Romania, Ukraine, Russia (Europe)
- C. canariense Wunderlich, 1987 – Canary Is., Turkey, Egypt
- C. catindigae Barrion & Litsinger, 1995 – Philippines
- C. caudatum (Thorell, 1887) – Myanmar
- C. chayuense Li & Zhang, 2019 - China
- C. circulum Li & Zhang, 2023 – China
- C. conflexum Simon, 1906 – India
- C. conspersum (Thorell, 1891) – India (Nicobar Is.)
- C. crucigerum Rainbow, 1920 – Australia (Norfolk Is.)
- C. danieli Tikader, 1975 – India
- C. daofeng Yu & Li, 2020 - China
- C. daquilium Barrion & Litsinger, 1995 – Indonesia, Philippines
- C. debile Simon, 1890 – Chad, Yemen
- C. denisi Caporiacco, 1939 – Ethiopia, Congo
- C. digitatum Li & Zhang, 2023 – China
- C. dippenaarae Lotz, 2007 – South Africa
- C. duanbi Yu & Li, 2020 - China
- C. echinulatum Zhang, Zhang & Yu, 2018 – China
- C. effossum Herman, 1879 – Central to eastern Europe
- C. elegans Thorell, 1875 – Europe, Turkey, Caucasus, Russia (Europe to south Siberia), Kazakhstan, Central Asia
- C. equestre O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1874 – Libya, Egypt
- C. erraticum (Walckenaer, 1802) – Europe, Turkey, Caucasus, Russia (Europe to Far East), Iran, Central Asia, China, Korea, Japan
- C. eutittha Bösenberg & Strand, 1906 – Taiwan, Japan, Korea?
- C. excavatum Rainbow, 1920 – Australia (Norfolk Is.)
- C. exilipes (Lucas, 1846) – Algeria
- C. exquestitum Zhang & Zhu, 1993 – China
- C. falcatum Chen, Huang, Chen & Wang, 2006 – Taiwan
- C. falcis Lotz, 2015 – Gabon
- C. festae Pavesi, 1895 – Israel
- C. fibrosum Zhang, Hu & Zhu, 1994 – China
- C. filiapophysium Chen & Huang, 2012 – Taiwan
- C. fisheri Lotz, 2014 – Madagascar
- C. floresense Wunderlich, 2008 – Azores
- C. foordi Lotz, 2015 – South Africa
- C. foulpointense Lotz, 2014 – Madagascar
- C. fujianense Gong, 1983 – China
- C. fulvotestaceum Simon, 1878 – France
- C. furax L. Koch, 1873 – Samoa
- C. furculatum Karsch, 1879 – Cape Verde Is., Africa, Madagascar, Comoros
- C. ghanaense Lotz, 2015 – Ghana
- C. gobi Schmidt & Barensteiner, 2000 – China
- C. gou Yu & Li, 2020 - China
- C. gracile L. Koch, 1873 – Australia (Queensland, New South Wales)
- C. gratum Kulczyński, 1897 – Germany, Hungary
- C. griswoldi Lotz, 2014 – Madagascar
- C. hainanense (Li & Zhang, 2024) – China (Hainan)
- C. halophilum Schmidt & Piepho, 1994 – Cape Verde Is.
- C. haroniense Lotz, 2007 – Zimbabwe
- C. himalayense Gravely, 1931 – India
- C. hypocyrtum Zhang & Zhu, 1993 – China
- C. ienisteai Sterghiu, 1985 – Romania, Albania
- C. ilicis Morano & Bonal, 2016 – Spain
- C. impressum Thorell, 1881 – Australia (Queensland)
- C. incertum O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1869 – Sri Lanka
- C. inclusum (Hentz, 1847) – North America, Central America, Caribbean, South America. Introduced to Réunion
- C. incomptum (Thorell, 1891) – India (Nicobar Is.)
- C. indicum O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1874 – India, Sri Lanka
- C. inflatum Wang & Zhang, 2013 – China
- C. inornatum O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1874 – India
- C. insigne O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1874 – India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, China
- C. insulanum (Thorell, 1878) – China, Indonesia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, and Taiwan
- C. insulare (Vinson, 1863) – Madagascar, Réunion
- C. iranicum Esyunin & Zamani, 2020 - Iran
- C. isiacum O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1874 – Libya, Egypt
- C. itakeum Barrion & Litsinger, 1995 – Philippines
- C. jabalpurense Majumder & Tikader, 1991 – India
- C. japonicum Bösenberg & Strand, 1906 – China, Korea, Japan
- C. jiuquan Li & Zhang, 2023 – China
- C. jocquei Lotz, 2014 – Comoros, Madagascar
- C. joculare Simon, 1910 – São Tomé and Príncipe
- C. jorgeense Wunderlich, 2008 – Azores
- C. jovium Denis, 1947 – Egypt
- C. kabalense Lotz, 2015 – Uganda
- C. kakamega Lotz, 2015 – Kenya
- C. kakumense Lotz, 2015 – Ivory Coast, Ghana, Congo
- C. kashmirense Majumder & Tikader, 1991 – India
- C. kazachstanicum Ponomarev, 2007 – Kazakhstan
- C. kenyaense Lotz, 2007 – Africa
- C. kibonotense Lessert, 1921 – Ethiopia, Congo, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda
- C. klabati Merian, 1911 – Indonesia (Sulawesi)
- C. knipperi Lotz, 2011 – Tanzania
- C. kupense Lotz, 2007 – Cameroon
- C. lanceolatum Chrysanthus, 1967 – Indonesia (New Guinea)
- C. lascivum Karsch, 1879 – Russia (Sakhalin), China, Korea, Japan
- C. leucophaeum Simon, 1897 – Madagascar
- C. ligawsolanum Barrion & Litsinger, 1995 – Philippines
- C. liplikeum Barrion & Litsinger, 1995 – Philippines
- C. liuyangense Xie, Yin, Yan & Kim, 1996 – China
- C. lompobattangi Merian, 1911 – Indonesia (Sulawesi)
- C. longipes (Thorell, 1890) – Indonesia (Sumatra)
- C. ludovici Lessert, 1921 – Congo, Kenya, Tanzania, Madagascar
- C. lukiense Lotz, 2015 – Congo
- C. macedonicum Drensky, 1921 – Italy, Slovenia, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Macedonia, Bulgaria; synonym of Cheiraignotum macedonicum
- C. madagascarense Lotz, 2014 – Comoros, Madagascar
- C. mahajanga Lotz, 2014 – Madagascar
- C. malkini Lotz, 2007 – Nigeria
- C. mangiferae Workman, 1896 – Singapore, Indonesia (Sumatra)
- C. maraisi Lotz, 2007 – Namibia, Botswana
- C. margaritae Sterghiu, 1985 – Romania
- C. marplesi Chrysanthus, 1967 – Indonesia (New Guinea)
- C. mayombense Lotz, 2015 – Congo
- C. melanostomum (Thorell, 1895) – India, Bangladesh, Myanmar
- C. mertoni Strand, 1911 – Indonesia (Aru Is.)
- C. mildei L. Koch, 1864 – Europe, North Africa, Turkey, Middle East, Caucasus, Russia (Europe) to Central Asia. Introduced to North America, Argentina
- C. minahassae Merian, 1911 – Indonesia (Sulawesi)
- C. minshullae Lotz, 2007 – Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa
- C. minusculum Zamani & Marusik, 2025 – Iran
- C. minutum Baba & Tanikawa, 2024 – Japan (Ryukyu Is.)
- C. molle L. Koch, 1875 – Africa, Saudi Arabia
- C. mondrainense Main, 1954 – Australia (Western Australia)
- C. mongolicum Schenkel, 1963 – Mongolia
- C. monstrum Zamani & Marusik, 2025 – Iran
- C. montanum L. Koch, 1877 – Europe, Turkey, Caucasus, Iran
- C. mordax L. Koch, 1866 – Japan, Australia, New Hebrides, Samoa, Solomon Is., Tonga?, French Polynesia?
- C. murinum (Thorell, 1895) – India, Myanmar
- C. mysorense Majumder & Tikader, 1991 – India, Bangladesh
- C. nalsaroverense Patel & Patel, 1973 – India
- C. nervosum Simon, 1909 – Australia (Western Australia)
- C. nickeli Lotz, 2011 – Mauritania
- C. occidentale L. Koch, 1882 – Spain (Minorca), Italy
- C. olliforme Zhang & Zhu, 1993 – China
- C. oncognathum Thorell, 1871 – Europe
- C. pauriense Majumder & Tikader, 1991 – India
- C. pelasgicum (C. L. Koch, 1837) – Southern and eastern Europe, Turkey, Caucasus, Russia (Europe) to Tajikistan
- C. pennatum Simon, 1878 – Southern Europe, Romania
- C. pennuliferum Simon, 1909 – Australia (Western Australia)
- C. pennyi O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1873 – Europe, Turkey, Caucasus, Russia (Europe to south Siberia), Iran, Central Asia, China
- C. peregrinum Thorell, 1899 – Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Cameroon
- C. pichoni Schenkel, 1963 – China
- C. poonaense Majumder & Tikader, 1991 – India
- C. potanini Schenkel, 1963 – China
- C. punctipedellum Caporiacco, 1949 – Congo, Rwanda, Kenya
- C. punctorium (Villers, 1789) (type) – Europe, Turkey, Caucasus, Russia (Europe to south Siberia), Iran, Central Asia
- C. punjabense Sadana & Bajaj, 1980 – India
- C. ransoni Lotz, 2014 – Madagascar
- C. rehobothense Strand, 1915 – Israel
- C. rothi Lotz, 2014 – Madagascar
- C. ruandana (Strand, 1916) - Rwanda
- C. rupicola (Thorell, 1897) – Myanmar, China, Indonesia
- C. rupestre Herman, 1879 - Eastern Europe; nomen dubium (dubious name)
- C. russellsmithi Lotz, 2007 – Ethiopia
- C. rwandense Lotz, 2011 – Rwanda
- C. saccharanalis Mukhtar, 2015 – Pakistan
- C. sadanai Tikader, 1976 - India
- C. sakoemicum Roewer, 1938 – New Guinea
- C. salsicola Simon, 1932 – France
- C. sambii Patel & Reddy, 1991 – India
- C. sansibaricum Strand, 1907 – Ivory Coast to Zanzibar
- C. saraswatii Tikader, 1962 – India
- C. schenkeli Caporiacco, 1949 – Kenya, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa
- C. seidlitzi L. Koch, 1864 – Mediterranean to Central Asia
- C. seshii Patel & Reddy, 1991 – India
- C. shilabira Lotz, 2015 – Congo, Kenya
- C. shiluvanense Lotz, 2007 – South Africa
- C. sikkimense Majumder & Tikader, 1991 – India, Bangladesh
- C. silaceum Rainbow, 1897 – Australia (New South Wales)
- C. simaoense Zhang & Yin, 1999 – China
- C. simplex Thorell, 1899 – Cameroon, Nigeria
- C. sistani Zamani & Marusik, 2025 – Iran
- C. siwi El-Hennawy, 2001 – Egypt
- C. solidum Zhang, Zhu & Hu, 1993 – China
- C. soputani Merian, 1911 – Indonesia (Sulawesi)
- C. spectabile (Thorell, 1887) – Myanmar
- C. sphaericum Zhang, Zhu & Hu, 1993 – China
- C. stratioticum L. Koch, 1873 – New Zealand, Australia (Tasmania)
- C. streblowi L. Koch, 1879 – Russia (Middle and south Siberia)
- C. subinsulanum Li & Zhang, 2019 - China
- C. submordax Zhang, Zhu & Hu, 1993 – China, Taiwan, Japan
- C. taegense Paik, 1990 – China, Korea, Japan
- C. tagorei Biswas & Raychaudhuri, 2003 – Bangladesh
- C. taiwanicum Chen, Huang, Chen & Wang, 2006 – China, Taiwan
- C. tanmoyi Biswas & Roy, 2005 – India
- C. tanzanense Lotz, 2015 – Tanzania
- C. taprobanense Strand, 1907 – Sri Lanka
- C. tenue L. Koch, 1873 – Australia (Queensland)
- C. tetragnathoide Caporiacco, 1949 – Kenya
- C. tigbauanense Barrion & Litsinger, 1995 – Philippines
- C. torricellianum Strand, 1911 – New Guinea
- C. torsivum Chen & Huang, 2012 – Taiwan
- C. triviale (Thorell, 1895) – India, Myanmar
- C. trivittatum Simon, 1906 – India
- C. truncatum (Thorell, 1895) – Myanmar
- C. turanicum Kroneberg, 1875 – Uzbekistan, Tajikistan
- C. turiae Strand, 1917 – Thailand to Australia (Queensland)
- C. uncinatum Paik, 1985 – China, Korea
- C. unicum Bösenberg & Strand, 1906 – Korea, Japan, China, Laos
- C. vankhedei Marusik & Fomichev, 2016 – Mongolia
- C. vansoni Lawrence, 1936 – Southern Africa
- C. verdense Lotz, 2011 – Cape Verde Is.
- C. virescens (Sundevall, 1833) – Europe, Caucasus, Russia (Europe to Far East), Iran, China
- C. vorax O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1874 – India
- C. warsai Mukhtar, 2015 – Pakistan
- C. wiehlei Chrysanthus, 1967 – New Guinea
- C. wilma (Benoit, 1977) – St. Helena
- C. wuquan Yu & Li, 2020 - China
- C. xinjiangense Li & Zhang, 2023 – China
- C. zebrinum Savelyeva, 1972 – Russia (south Siberia), Kazakhstan
- C. zhejiangense Hu & Song, 1982 – China, Korea
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References
Further reading
External links
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