''Atypus piceus'' is a

mygalomorph The Mygalomorphae, or mygalomorphs, are an infraorder of spiders, and comprise one of three major groups of living spiders with over 3000 species, found on all continents except Antarctica. Many members are known as trapdoor spiders due to t ...

spider of the family

Atypidae Atypidae, also known as atypical tarantulas or purseweb spiders, is a spider family containing only three genera. They are accomplished ambush predators that spend most of their time in a sock-like, silken retreat on the ground from where they ki ...

. It occurs in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

Moldavia Moldavia ( ro, Moldova, or , literally "The Country of Moldavia"; in Romanian Cyrillic alphabet, Romanian Cyrillic: or ; chu, Землѧ Молдавскаѧ; el, Ἡγεμονία τῆς Μολδαβίας) is a historical region and for ...

, and

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

and is the

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specime ...

of the genus ''Atypus''.

Description

Males are about long without

chelicerae The chelicerae () are the mouthparts of the subphylum Chelicerata, an arthropod group that includes arachnids, horseshoe crabs, and sea spiders. Commonly referred to as " jaws", chelicerae may be shaped as either articulated fangs, or similarl ...

, females up to . Males are of a deep black, while spiderlings and females are dark brown with a violet hue. The very long posterior

spinnerets A spinneret is a silk-spinning organ of a spider or the larva of an insect. Some adult insects also have spinnerets, such as those borne on the forelegs of Embioptera. Spinnerets are usually on the underside of a spider's opisthosoma, and are ...

consist of three segments, the last segment features a light blot, which is helpful in identifying the species. ''A. piceus'' can live for more than 10 years.Bellmann, H. (1997). Kosmos-Atlas Spinnentiere Europas. ''Kosmos''.

Habits

Adults live in up to deep tubes with a diameter of about 10 mm. The silken lining continues above ground for about , where it is camouflaged with matter from the vicinity. The mating period is from June to July, when the males search for females. The spiderlings hatch during autumn and overwinter in the mother's burrow without feeding. After emerging in spring, they climb nearby plants and use strands of silk to fly away (

ballooning Ballooning may refer to: * Hot air ballooning * Balloon (aeronautics) * Ballooning (spider) * Ballooning degeneration, a disease * Memory ballooning See also * Balloon (disambiguation) A balloon is a flexible container for (partially or fully) co ...

Evolutionary relationship

''Atypus piceus'' is possibly the result of hybridisation of '' A. affinis'' and '' A. muralis''. ''A. muralis'' has posterior spinnerets with four segments, ''A. affinis'' with three, and ''A. piceus'' has three, but the white blot could be result of this hybridisation.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q136914 Atypidae Spiders of Asia Spiders of Europe Moldavia Fauna of Iran Spiders described in 1776 Taxa named by Johann Heinrich Sulzer