Instead it hunts for insects and other spiders at night and uses its enlarged spinnerets to produce a sticky silk to subdue its prey.

Females also use their silk to build protective nests for their eggs.

[3][4][5] The carapace is dark brown while the abdomen is brown/grey with hairs resembling the body of a mouse, hence the common name of 'mouse spider'.

[3] Scotophaeus blackwalli is native to Europe, the Caucasus, Turkey and Iran.

[1] It is commonly found around and inside houses in Britain, usually in the Autumn, and also under bark and in holes in walls in warmer parts of Europe.