- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Arthropoda
- Class: Arachnida
- Order: Araneae
- Suborder: Araneomorphae
- Family: Desidae
- Genus: Metaltella
- Species: Metaltella simoni
Other Common Names
Hacklemesh Weaver, Cribellate Spider
Eugen von Keyserling, 1878
There have been 72 confirmed sightings of Metaltella simoni (Hacklemesh Weaver), with the most recent sighting submitted on April 20, 2020 by Spider ID member miamacbeth. The detailed statistics below may not utilize the complete dataset of 72 sightings because of certain Metaltella simoni sightings reporting incomplete data.
- Web: 5% of the time, Metaltella simoni spiders are sighted in a spider web (Sample size: 55)
- Sex: 12 female and 27 male.
- Environment: Metaltella simoni has been sighted 15 times outdoors, and 42 times indoors.
- Outdoors: Man-made structure (10). High foliage (1). Ground layer (2). Under rock or debris (2).
Location and Range
Metaltella simoni (Hacklemesh Weaver) has been sighted in the following countries: Canada, United States.
Metaltella simoni has also been sighted in the following states: Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina, Texas.
Metaltella simoni has been primarily sighted during the month of January.
- January: 15
- February: 13
- March: 3
- April: 6
- May: 12
- October: 5
- December: 7
- This species has previously been placed in the family Amaurobiidae and, before that, in the family Dictynidae. It was transferred to Amphinectidae by Valerie Davis in 1998.
- Based on general appearance, can be mistaken for spiders in the family Amaurobiidae. If you have a microscope: Metaltella simoni is the only known cribellate species in North America with 5 or more teeth on both the pro- and retromargin of the chelicerae (Leech 1971, Leech 1972, Cutler 2005).
- In the state of California, this species was one of the five most common spiders to be misidentified by the general public as a “brown recluse” and submitted to Rick Vetter at U.C. Riverside (Vetter 2005).
- The anterior (front) portion of the carapace, near the eyes, is usually darker than the rest of the carapace.
- Often has some pale chevron-like markings running the length of the abdomen, but these markings may be indistinct or lacking, especially in older specimens.
- Egg sacs are globular and usually suspended within the web and covered with sand, dirt, or other debris the female finds nearby.