Purseweb spider
The purseweb spider is a dark, hidden spider that lives in a silk tube, like a long sock in the ground. The top of the tube sticks out and is covered with bits of leaves, so it is very hard to spot. It is a small cousin of the tarantulas.
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Fun facts
It takes about 4 years to grow up, which is a long time for a spider.
In autumn the male moves into the female's tube, and they live together until he dies.
The baby spiders hatch the next summer and stay with their mother for almost another year.
In Britain and the Nordic countries it is the only spider of the tarantula group.
Most asked questions about Purseweb spider
?Where does the purseweb spider live?
In a silk tube partly buried in the ground on warm heaths, meadows and open pine woods.
?How big is a purseweb spider?
Females are 10 to 15 millimetres long and males 7 to 9.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Atypus affinis
- Named by
- Eichwald, 1830
- Group
- Spiders
- Family
- Atypidae
- Classification
- Arachnida > Araneae > Atypidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Africa
Where the facts come from
- Atypus affinis (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Siga. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at hello@bugwiki.app and we will fix it.
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