Walckenaeria

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Walckenaeria is a genus of very small spiders in the family Linyphiidae, commonly known as dwarf spiders. It was first described by John Blackwall in 1833. Walckenaeria is the senior name for several other genera that were later merged into it, including Paragonatium, Wideria, Cornicularia, Prosopotheca, Tigellinus, and Trachynella.

Some male Walckenaeria spiders have unusual eye arrangements: their eyes can sit on raised mounds or turret-like structures, and in extreme cases the eyes are on stalks taller than the spider’s body.

As of September 2020, the genus contains about 195 species and two subspecies. An example species is Walckenaeria acuminata, found in the Belgian High Ardennes (Commanster). Some names once used for these spiders are now considered dubious (nomina dubia).