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Species: Stegodyphus lineatus
Common name: Lined velvet spider
Native range: Arid Mediterranean regions and the Middle East
Temperature: 24–30°C; room temperature suits it well
Humidity: Low — dry, well ventilated (no misting onto the web)
Adult size: Female to about 1.5 cm body, male about 1.2 cm
Lifestyle: Bush / web dweller (silk nest in vegetation — does not burrow)
Speed: Moderate
Venom potency: Mild
Temperament: Secretive, subsocial
Recommended for: Intermediate keepers
Notes: Velvet spider (Eresidae), subsocial; famed for matriphagy (the female sacrifices herself for her young); no urticating hairs; not listed under CITES
Stegodyphus lineatus
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Description
Stegodyphus lineatus
Stegodyphus lineatus, the lined velvet spider, is a close relative of the ladybird spiders from the same family Eresidae — but with a completely different way of life. It inhabits dry Mediterranean and Middle Eastern scrub, where it does not dig a burrow but builds a dense **silk nest in low vegetation**, joined to a capture web that snares passing insects.
It is a subsocial species — the young live together in the mother's nest for a time, and its reproductive biology is among the most moving in the spider world: the female practises **matriphagy**, literally giving up her own body as food for her offspring. For the observer, it is a species of fascinating social and architectural behaviour.
In the terrarium, **dryness and good ventilation** matter, along with structures (twigs, artificial plants) on which it will stretch its nest and web. Do not mist the web itself; room temperature or slightly warmer. This is a spider of the web, not the burrow — and that makes it an unusual "living microcosm" in the terrarium.
For the keeper drawn to behaviour above all — a communal nest, a capture web, and one of the most extraordinary parental strategies in nature.