🕷️! family leptonetidae !🕷️
i was absolutly awestruck by photos of these tiny, iridescent, sparkly little cave spiders while peaking under the bugguide.net logs and stones
most of the species described under this family, such as: leptoneta microphthalma & leptoneta infuscata have as little as two to six observations recorded on inaturalist.org
their family grouping is recorded to be native to the geographical range known as the ‘Holoarctic’
leptoneta microphthalma, one of the two observations on inaturalist
calileptoneta helferi, one of the six observations on inaturalist
according to the Phylogenomics and biogeography of leptonetid spiders (Araneae : Leptonetidae) on bioone.org: this family contains 355 species under 21 genera. with most being very small, around 2-5mm. and, quote: “all leptonetines share a unique eye arrangement where the posterior median eyes are displaced from the main eye group.”
notably, leptonetids are rarely seen and a large portion of their life history details are still unknown.
i would really encourage reading through the aforementioned article, it has a great number of interesting things to say about this lovely little spider family!
sources under the cut:
