World Spider Catalog

Linyphiidae Blackwall, 1859

Family | ACCEPTED

N.B.: for comments on relationships, see Michalik & Hormiga, 2010: 7; re-synonymization of Pimoidae (Murphy & Roberts, 2015: ix) not sufficiently justified and is not accepted here; Sinopimoidae Li & Wunderlich, 2008 [urn:lsid:nmbe.ch:spiderfam:0112] synonymyized with Linyphiidae by Dimitrov et al., 2017: 245; resurrection of Sinopimoidae by Wunderlich, 2020b: 20 is not accepted here, because Dimitrov et al., 2017 was not taken into account; re-elevation of Sinopimoidae to family level by Eskov & Marusik, 2023: 343 not accepted here (by majority vote of the WSC boards); the current status of Sinopimoidae is also maintained for reasons of stability and we wait for a probable confirmation or rejection of this resurrection; Tian et al., 2022 show five subfamilies: Linyphiinae (incl. Mynogleninae Lehtinen, 1967: 250 and Dubiaraneinae Millidge, 1993c: 145), Erigoninae Emerton, 1882: 7, Micronetinae Hull, 1920a: 8, Ipainae Saaristo, 2007b: 34 and Stemonyphantinae Wunderlich, 1986: 120; da Silva-Moreira, Kulkarni & Hormiga, 2025: 60-62 list resp. newly circumscribe six subfamilies: Erigoninae, Lepthyphantinae Simon, 1929: 562, Linyphiinae (syn. nov.: Dubiaraneinae), Mynogleninae, Pocobletinae Silva-Moreira & Hormiga, 2025: 61 (new subfamily) and Stemonyphantinae, state Ipainae and Micronetinae to be polyphyletic, leave several linyphiid clades unranked and also several genera as incertae sedis.

In synonymy:

Scaptophorus Hull, 1920 = Helophora Menge, 1866 (Hull, 1920a: 8, superfluous replacement name)

Gen. Helophora Menge, 1866 urn:lsid:nmbe.ch:spidergen:01006

type Linyphia pallescens Westring, 1851; gender feminine; syn. of Helophora insignis (Blackwall, 1841)

N.B.: treated as a synonym of Linyphia Latreille, 1804 by Roewer, 1955c: 152, but accepted by all later authors; the replacement name Scaptophorus Hull, 1920a: 8 [urn:lsid:nmbe.ch:spidergen:05413] is superfluous, he erronously considered Helophora to be preoccuppied in Coleoptera by Helophorus Fabricius, 1775; not included in a subfamily of Linyphiidae but in an unranked linyphiid clade by da Silva-Moreira, Kulkarni & Hormiga, 2025: 62.

Transferred to other genera:

Helophora ontariensis (Emerton, 1925) -- see Allomengea

Helophora sitkaensis (Keyserling, 1886) -- see Allomengea

In synonymy:

Helophora pallescens (Westring, 1851) = Helophora insignis (Blackwall, 1841) (Thorell, 1870a: 63, sub Linyphia)

Helophora phylax (Chamberlin, 1920, T from Bathyphantes) = Helophora orinoma (Chamberlin, 1919) (Ivie, 1969: 6)

Helophora sagittata (Grube, 1861, T from Linyphia) = Helophora insignis (Blackwall, 1841) (van Helsdingen, 1978b: 186)

Helophora insignis (Blackwall, 1841) | | North America, Europe, Caucasus, Russia (Europe to Far East), Kyrgyzstan, China urn:lsid:nmbe.ch:spidersp:010791 TYPE SPECIES

Linyphia insignis Blackwall, 1841a: 662 (Df) Original description

Linyphia pallescens Westring, 1851: 37 (D) [urn:lsid:nmbe.ch:spidersp:062022]

Linyphia pallescens Westring, 1861: 119 (Dmf)

Linyphia sagittata Grube, 1861: 166 (Df) [urn:lsid:nmbe.ch:spidersp:062024]

Linyphia insignis Blackwall, 1864a: 238, pl. 17, f. 160 (f, Dm)

Helophora pallescens Menge, 1866: 127, pl. 23, f. 50 (mf)

Linyphia insignis Thorell, 1870a: 63 (S of Linyphia pallescens)

Helophora insignis Emerton, 1882: 67, pl. 21, f. 3 (mf)

Linyphia insignis Keyserling, 1886b: 80, pl. 13, f. 176 (mf)

Helophora insignis Bösenberg, 1901: 90, pl. 8, f. 107 (mf)

Linyphia insignis Emerton, 1902: 146, f. 348-350 (mf)

Scaptophorus insignis Hull, 1920a: 8

Linyphia insignis Simon, 1929: 636, 745, f. 974-975 (mf)

Helophora insignis Blauvelt, 1936: 155, pl. 15, f. 105-110, pl. 16, f. 113, 116 (mf)

Linyphia insignis Comstock, 1940: 402, f. 402 (f)

Helophora insignis Kaston, 1948: 126, f. 261-265 (mf, T from Linyphia)

Helophora insignis Locket & Millidge, 1953: 395, f. 237A-B (mf)

Linyphia sagittata Roewer, 1955c: 1546 (nicht zu deuten = nomen dubium)

Helophora insignis Wiehle, 1956: 289, f. 476-480 (mf)

Helophora insignis Merrett, 1963b: 372, f. 28A-D (m)

Helophora insignis Beer, 1964: 527, f. 5 (f)

Helophora insignis Wiehle, 1967b: 187, f. 22 (f)

Helophora insignis Tystshenko, 1971: 214, f. 642 (f)

Helophora insignis Miller, 1971: 219, pl. XLII, f. 3-4 (mf)

Helophora insignis Palmgren, 1975: 37, f. 7.25-27 (mf)

Helophora insignis Millidge, 1977: 48, f. 198 (m)

Helophora insignis van Helsdingen, 1978b: 186 (S of Linyphia sagittata, removed from nomen dubium)

Helophora insignis Millidge, 1984b: 246, f. 84 (f)

Helophora insignis Roberts, 1987: 159, f. 82a (mf)

Linyphia insignis Izmailova, 1989: 76, f. 56 (f)

Helophora insignis Tanasevitch, 1990: 81, f. 13.15-16, 14.20 (mf)

Helophora insignis Heimer & Nentwig, 1991: 166, f. 453 (mf)

Helophora insignis Li, Song & Zhu, 1994: 80, f. 27 (f)

Helophora insignis Roberts, 1995: 363, f. (mf)

Helophora insignis Tao, Li & Zhu, 1995: 246, f. 69-75 (mf)

Helophora insignis Roberts, 1998: 373, f. (mf)

Helophora insignis Song, Zhu & Chen, 1999: 170, f. 97O-P, 98A-B (mf)

Helophora insignis Paquin & Dupérré, 2003: 139, f. 1531-1534 (mf)

Helophora insignis Tu & Hormiga, 2010: 61, f. 7a-c (f)

Helophora insignis Wang et al., 2015c: 142, f. 2f (f)

Helophora insignis Fomichev & Koponen, 2024: 1216, f. 19, 27 (mf)

Helophora kueideensis Hu, 2001 | | China urn:lsid:nmbe.ch:spidersp:037573

Helophora kueideensis Hu, 2001: 499, f. 331.1-5 (Df) Original description

Helophora orinoma (Chamberlin, 1919) | | USA urn:lsid:nmbe.ch:spidersp:010792

Linyphia orinoma Chamberlin, 1919a: 248, pl. 17, f. 4 (Df) Original description

Bathyphantes phylax Chamberlin, 1920a: 195, f. 20.3 (Dmf) [urn:lsid:nmbe.ch:spidersp:062023]

Linyphia orinoma Chamberlin & Ivie, 1933a: 31, pl. 8, f. 85-86 (Dm)

Helophora orinoma Ivie, 1969: 6 (removed from S of Helophora reducta, rejecting Blauvelt, 1936: 158, S of Bathyphantes phylax)

Helophora reducta (Keyserling, 1886) | | Alaska, Canada, USA urn:lsid:nmbe.ch:spidersp:010793

Linyphia reducta Keyserling, 1886b: 73, pl. 13, f. 172 (Df) Original description

Helophora reducta Blauvelt, 1936: 158, pl. 16, f. 111-112, 114-115, 117-118 (mf, S of Linyphia orinoma; revalidated by Ivie, 1969: 6)

Helophora tunagyna Chamberlin & Ivie, 1943 | | Canada, USA urn:lsid:nmbe.ch:spidersp:010794

Helophora tunagyna Chamberlin & Ivie, 1943: 6, f. 5 (Df) Original description