Shaded orbweaver
Metellina merianae (Scopoli, 1763)
Status not recordedspiders
The shaded orbweaver (Metellina merianae) is a species in the family Tetragnathidae, order Araneae. Recorded adults reach 7.11 mm in length. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Switzerland.
No freely licensed photo yet
Quick facts about the shaded orbweaver
- Weight
- Not recorded
- Length
- 7.11 mmsrc for Length
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Invertivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- forest, grassland, human_modified, rockysrc for Habitat
- Young per litter or clutch
- Not recorded
- Active
- At night (nocturnal)src for Active
- Conservation status
- Not recorded
- Countries on record
- 1 countrysrc for Countries on record
How big is the shaded orbweaver?
Where does the shaded orbweaver live?
Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.
The shaded orbweaver is listed for 1 country.
- Listed
- Not listed
The same countries as a list
Why a country list is not a range map
Listed by: WSC (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.
Is the shaded orbweaver endangered?
No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.
How is the shaded orbweaver classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumArthropoda
- classArachnida
- orderAraneae
- familyTetragnathidae
- genusMetellina
- SpeciesMetellina merianae (Scopoli, 1763)
Synonyms Aranea antriada, Aranea fusca, Aranea merianae, Epeira celata, Epeira inclinata, Meta merianae, Meta muraria, Meta subterranea, Metellina antriada, Metellina celata, Metellina fusca, Metellina fusca, Metellina merianae celata, Metellina muraria, Metellina subterranea
Other names and names in other languages (16)
- Half-light orbweaverEnglish
- meta jeskynníCzech
- SkyggehjulspinderDanish
- Höhlen-HerbstspinneGerman
- Kleine HöhlenspinneGerman
- KeldriämblikEstonian
- onkaloaukokkiFinnish
- Méta Des TerriersFrench
- rejtett keresztespókHungarian
- Juodajuostis skylūnėlisLithuanian
- skyggekrattveverNorwegian Bokmål
- HolenwielwebspinDutch
- Czaik jaskiniowyPolish
- Метеллина МерианRussian
- meta jaskynnáSlovak
- bryggspindelSwedish
Relatives of the shaded orbweaver
Other species in the same genus Metellina.
CompareShaded orbweaver vs Autumn spiderShaded orbweaver vs Metellina barretiShaded orbweaver vs Metellina curtisiShaded orbweaver vs Metellina gertschi
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the shaded orbweaver?
An adult shaded orbweaver measures 7.11 mm long, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Where does the shaded orbweaver live?
Catalogue of Life checklists list the shaded orbweaver for 1 country: Switzerland. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.
What kind of animal is the shaded orbweaver?
The shaded orbweaver (Metellina merianae) belongs to the family Tetragnathidae in the order Araneae.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-14. How this page is put together.
- Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe · CC BY 4.0 · 2.0
Chauvier, Y., Adde, A., Bergamini, A. et al. (2025) TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15063844
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Shaded orbweaver (Metellina merianae). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/shaded-orbweaver
“Shaded orbweaver (Metellina merianae).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/shaded-orbweaver.
@misc{shaded_orbweaver_2026,
title = {Shaded orbweaver (Metellina merianae)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/shaded-orbweaver},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-14}
}