The list of Minnesota’s spiders is incomplete at this point in time and new additions are found somewhat regularly. Some of these new additions were listed as hypothetical species on previous versions of the checklist and are now confirmed while others were not anticipated during the development of the state checklist. Below you will find the most recent changes.
CURRENT CONFIRMED SPECIES: 531
30 July 2023–A spider collecting trip up north with my son yielded the state’s first Haplodrassus eunis Chamberlin, 1922 which was previously listed as hypothetical. The specimen was collected in a quarry in the Sax-Zim Bog Important Bird Area. Images of the specimen can be found here.
27 July 2023–An observer on iNaturalist found the first state record of Araneus bivittatus (Walckenaer, 1841) in St. Louis County. It is unclear if this is a natural occurrence and a significant range extension for this species. The observation can be seen here.
26 July 2023–An observer on iNaturalist found the first state record for Attulus ammophilus (Thorell, 1875) in Hennepin County. This non-native species has been popping up in various locations around the U.S. in recent years and I am not too surprised that it showed up in the Twin Cities. This specimen can be viewed here.
20 July 2023–While reviewing some literature about the genus Phrurotimpus, I found records for Phrurotimpus palustris (Banks, 1892) from three counties in Minnesota.
14 June 2023–A friend had given me a box of spiders collected the previous year and I finally got around to identifying the spiders. Surprisingly, there was a male Gnaphosa fontinalis Walckenaer, 1887 in the collection from Houston County. The specimen can be seen here.
5 June 2023–A spider enthusiast in the Twin Cities sent me a couple of interesting spiders collected in Coon Rapids, MN. One was the first confirmed record of Ozyptila praticola (C. L. Koch, 1837)(seen here) and the other was a surprise record of Pholcophora americana Banks, 1896 which can be seen here. The former species is a non-native species that is becoming very well established in North America. The latter species is more typical of the western United States and was a likely accidental introduction.
20 May 2023–A trip to southeastern Minnesota with a friend yielded a female Tigrosa aspersa (Hentz, 1844) in a burrow under a rock in Houston County. A couple of hours later we swept up a juvenile and adult male Pelegrina galathea (Walckenaer, 1837) in a prairie restoration in Fillmore County. The specimens can be viewed here and here.
1 January 2023–A past record came to light of a Zoropsis spinimana (Dufour, 1820) on iNaturalist. The specimen can be viewed here.
26 August 2022–An iNaturalist observer found the first record of Neoscona domiciliorum (Hentz, 1847) in Lakeville, MN. I have been debating whether or not to add this species as a hypothetical for a couple of years. Now that has been resolved. The specimen can be seen here.
17 June 2022–A collecting trip to the southwestern corner of the state with my daughter yielded two new state records: Thanatus rubicellus Mello-Leitão, 1929 (seen here) and Theridion pierre Levi & Platnick, 2013 (seen here). Neither were expected in the state with the latter’s known distribution limited to western South Dakota.
17 June 2022–A sharp-eyed observer took a picture of a Sergiolus tennesseensis Chamberlin, 1922 at the Scott County Fairgrounds and posted the image to iNaturalist. It can be viewed here. This species is moved from hypothetical to confirmed.
16 June 2022–A spider-collecting trip to the southwestern corner of the state with my daughter yielded the first record of Phrurotimpus certus Gertsch, 1941. This species is moved from hypothetical to confirmed. The specimen can be viewed here.
6 June 2022–A male Scotinella pugnata (Emerton, 1890) was collected during a short trip to Nicollet County. The specimen can be seen here. This species was listed as hypothetical previously.
16 June 2021–A friend found the state’s first Hypsosinga rubens (Hentz, 1847) on his person while hiking in Beltrami State Forest in Lake of the Woods County. That tiny orbweaver was expected to occur in the state, but no prior records had been documented. The specimen can be viewed on iNaturalist here. Thankfully, it was collected and I was able to examine it under a microscope during March 2022.
Over the summer of 2021, two records of Eris flava (Peckham & Peckham, 1888) were found by observers and submitted to iNaturalist. They can be seen here and here. This species was listed as hypothetical previously. Another observer on iNaturalist found a highly localized population of Crossopriza lyoni (Blackwall, 1867) in Hennepin County. That observation can be seen here.
10 June 2021–The Spiders of Minnesota Project on iNaturalist continues to bear fruit. A stowaway Peucetia viridens(Hentz, 1832) was noteworthy; the specimen can be seen here. Another observer found the first state record of Cercidia prominens (Westring, 1851) in the Sax-Zim Bog in St. Louis County. That specimen can be viewed here.
18 July 2020–I collected a number of spiders as part of a bioblitz in the Sax-Zim Bog near Cotton, Minnesota. Amazingly, there were four new state records in the collection. An adult female Rugathodes aurantius (Emerton, 1915) was a surprise find that did not occur on previous versions of the checklist. The adult female that was collected can be seen here. A female Scotinotylus pallidus (Emerton, 1882) was previously listed as hypothetical and can be seen here. A couple of specimens of Piratula cantralli Wallace & Exline, 1978 were collected from sphagnum mats; one can be seen here. This species was previously listed as hypothetical as was Clubiona kulczynskii Lessert, 1905 which is represented by the specimen seen here.
29 May 2020–My son Gideon accompanied me on a collecting trip to McLeod and Meeker Counties and managed to find the state’s first Platnickina alabamensis (Gertsch & Archer, 1942) behind a piece of bark. Images of the specimen can be seen here. This species was previously listed as hypothetical (and as Theridion alabamensis).
22 February 2020–An observer on iNaturalist found a Hyptiotes cavatus (Hentz, 1847) in Wabasha County back in August. I didn’t know what it was at the time but thankfully, someone eventually figured it out. It can be seen here. This species was previously listed as hypothetical in its occurrence.
17 September 2019–Back in August I received several specimens from a friend who had traveled to Grand Marais, MN to see family. I finally got around to looking at them under a microscope and discovered that one of them was the first state record of Dictyna major Menge, 1869. An image of the palp can be seen here.
1 August 2019–I collected a few small spiders in Mankato while watching my daughter practice riding her bike in a parking lot. Amazingly, there were two state records in the haul: Grammonota inornata Emerton, 1882 and Glenognatha foxi (McCook, 1894). The latter was previously listed as hypothetical. Images of each of these can be found on BugGuide here and here.
15 July 2019–During a camping trip with the family a male Soulgas corticarius (Emerton, 1909) was found crawling on a tree trunk in the campsite. Images of this specimen can be viewed on BugGuide here.
2 July 2019–I received a number of specimens from a friend who collected them in northern Minnesota. A male Pardosa hyperborea (Thorell, 1875) was included with the specimens. It was found in the Bemis Swamp in the Beltrami Island State Forest. This species was listed as hypothetical in its occurrence. Images of this specimen can be seen on BugGuide here and here.
21 June 2019–An observer on iNaturalist managed to find a pair of Gea heptagon (Hentz, 1850) in a web in Wabasha County. It was formally listed as hypothetical in its occurrence. Pictures can be seen on iNaturalist here and here.
30 May 2019–During a collection trip to Salt Lake in Lac Qui Parle County, I managed to collect a male Glyphesis scopulifer (Emerton, 1882). I wasn’t sure what it was until I was examining a specimen from Blue Earth County from 1 June 2019 and realized it was the same species. An image of one of the Blue Earth County specimens can be seen on BugGuide here. This species was not even a hypothetical on my list because its distribution in North America is so little known. Finding it in two counties separated widely by geography is especially exciting. Two additional hypothetical species were added to the list after a closer reading of Chamberlin & Gertsch, 1958: Dictyna major Menge, 1869 and Dictyna quadrispinosa Emerton, 1919.
19 May 2019–I found a male Hibana gracilis (Hentz, 1847) in a silk retreat inside a hummingbird feeder in my yard while changing the nectar. This species was listed as hypothetical and I have always been surprised that I have not found one until now. The specimen can be seen on BugGuide here.
12 March 2019–One of my students collected some spiders for me from Kanabec County over the 2018 summer. I finally got around to identifying her spiders over Spring Break. One of the specimens turned out to be an adult male Ceraticelus atriceps (O. P.-Cambridge, 1874). An image can be viewed on BugGuide here.
18 August 2018–As part of a Drop-In Station teaching people about spiders at Tamarack Nature Center in White Bear Lake, MN, I collected a female Trochosa ruricola (De Geer, 1778). An image can be viewed on BugGuide here.
22 June 2018–During a bioblitz with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, a male Theridion petraeum was collected. An image can be viewed on BugGuide here.
27 October 2017–A spider enthusiast in the Twin Cities took a great series of pictures of a Metaltella simoni (Keyserling, 1878) collected in a greenhouse in Dakota County. An image can be viewed on BugGuide here.
25 September 2017–The students in my Invertebrate Zoology class and I put out some ramp traps on Bethany’s campus and managed to capture a female Diplocephalus subrostratus (O. P.-Cambridge, 1873) in the process. This species was an unexpected addition to the checklist and can be viewed on BugGuide here.
31 August 2017–One of the students in my Invertebrate Zoology class captured a female Lepthyphantes turbatrix (O. P.-Cambridge, 1877) at the W.R. Taylor Memorial Wildlife Management Area in Watonwan County. An image can be viewed on BugGuide here.
9 June 2017–I found a female Philodromus peninsulanus Gertsch, 1934 while sweeping at the North Ottawa Impoundments in Grant County. An image can be viewed on BugGuide here.
31 May 2017–I found a female Ceraticelus similis (Banks, 1892) at the Seim-Fredrickson Landing in Chippewa County. An image of the spider can be viewed on BugGuide here.
17 August 2016–I collected a male Tetragnatha pallescens F.O.P. Cambridge, 1903 at a boat landing north of Brownsville, Minnesota in Traverse County. An additional male collected on 18 August 2017 can be seen on BugGuide here.
6 July 2016–First confirmed record of Gonatium crassipalpum Bryant, 1933. This species was formerly listed as hypothetical. A female was collected during a bioblitz in the Sax-Zim Bog in St. Louis County and can be viewed on BugGuide here. During the same bioblitz, a male Dictyna brevitarsa Emerton, 1915 was collected by shaking a tamarack. This species was also on the hypothetical list. The specimen can be viewed on BugGuide here.
24 June 2016–First confirmed record of Clubiona johnsoni Gertsch, 1941. This species was listed as hypothetical on earlier versions of the checklist. A female was collected during a bioblitz with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at the Louisville Swamp Unit of the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge. The specimen can be viewed on BugGuide here.
17 June 2016–First confirmed records of Lyssomanes viridis (Walckenaer, 1837). A female specimen was found stowed away in a rainfly after a vacation to the southeastern U.S. A picture of the epigynum can be found on BugGuide here.
23 December 2015–First confirmed records of Habronattus cuspidatus Griswold, 1987 and Pelegrina exigua (Banks, 1892). Both were previously listed as hypothetical and both were found by Dr. William Ehmann of Seattle University during jumping spider surveys around the state during summer 2015. Dr. Ehmann graciously shared his data with me.
15 July 2015–First confirmed record of Enoplognatha ovata (Clerck, 1757) collected from a woodland at the Aurora Wildlife Management Area near Bixby, MN in Steele County. This non-native species continues to expand its range in North America. Both male and female were collected and can be viewed on BugGuide here and here.
10 July 2015—First confirmed record of Pirata montanoides Banks, 1892 collected from a woodland on the south side of Rice Lake near Winnebago, MN in Faribault County. Both male and female were collected and can be viewed on BugGuide here and here.
10 July 2015—First confirmed record of Misumessus oblongus (Keyserling, 1880) from Faribault County. This specimen was found while sweeping grasslands at the Blue Earth River Aquatic Management Area west of Winnebago, MN. See BugGuide to view the specimen.
10 July 2015–First confirmed record of Phrurotimpus borealis (Emerton, 1911) from Faribault County. This species was on my list of hypotheticals. This specimen was collected in a small woodland on the south side of Rice Lake near Winnebago, MN. See BugGuide to view the specimen.
29 June 2015–First confirmed record of Erigone blaesa Crosby & Bishop, 1928 from Olmsted County. This specimen was collected while camping at Chester Woods County Park east of Rochester. See BugGuide to view the specimen.
12 June 2015–I always thought that this could happen during the course of this project. I collected a spider during a bioblitz with the USFWS at the Jessenland Unit of the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge. It keyed out to Arctachaea in Spiders of North America but appears to be an undescribed species! See BugGuide to view the specimen. Now it just needs to be formally described.
10 June 2015–First confirmed record of Erigone dentosa O. P.-Cambridge, 1894 from Blue Earth County. The specimen was collected by one of the students participating in our summer science camp at Bethany Lutheran College! See BugGuide to view the specimen.
29 May 2015– First confirmed record of Tapinocyba simplex (Emerton, 1882) from Blue Earth County; this was a serendipitous find on a picnic table at a party. See BugGuide to view the specimen.
27 May 2015 — First confirmed record of Piratula canadensis (Dondale & Redner, 1981) from Renville County. This species was not on my list of hypotheticals but should have been. See BugGuide to view the specimen. On the recommendation of Robin Leech, I also added two hypothetical species to the list: Arctobius agelenoides (Emerton, 1919) and Titanoeca nigrella (Chamberlin, 1919).
11 May 2015 — First confirmed record of Philodromus praelustris Keyserling, 1880 from Le Sueur County. This species was on my list of hypotheticals. See BugGuide to view the specimen.