Bergmans’s Fruit Bat vs Cobweb Spiders

Scotonycteris bergmansi compared with Parasteatoda tepidariorum

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Bergmans’s Fruit Bat	Cobweb Spiders
Kingdom same	Animalia (Animals)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum	Chordata (Chordates)	Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Class	Mammalia (Mammals)	Arachnida (Arachnids)
Order	Chiroptera (Bats)	Araneae (Araneae)
Family	Pteropodidae (Fruit Bats)	Theridiidae
Genus	Scotonycteris	Parasteatoda
Species	Scotonycteris bergmansi	Parasteatoda tepidariorum

Evolutionary Relationship

Bergmans’s Fruit Bat and Cobweb Spiders share a common ancestor at the Kingdom level: Animalia. (Animals)

Conservation Status

Bergmans’s Fruit Bat

LC — Least Concern

Cobweb Spiders

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Bergmans’s Fruit Bat	Cobweb Spiders
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Bergmans’s Fruit Bat

Habitat

Typically found in diverse terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.

Cobweb Spiders

Habitat

Typically found in terrestrial habitats from forests to deserts.

Range

Widely distributed across Africa (South Africa), Asia (Taiwan), Europe (7 countries), North America (Canada, United States), and South America (Colombia).

Bergmans’s Fruit Bat

The Bergmans’s Fruit Bat (Scotonycteris bergmansi) is a species in the genus Scotonycteris. It is currently classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. Typically found in diverse terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.

Cobweb Spiders

The common house spider (Parasteatoda tepidariorum) is one of the most cosmopolitan of all spider species, having followed human civilization to virtually every inhabited corner of the globe. A member of the family Theridiidae, this small to medium-sized spider—females reaching 5–8 millimeters, males somewhat smaller—constructs the characteristic messy, three-dimensional cobwebs in sheltered corners of buildings, under eaves, in cellars, and in other human-modified structures worldwide. Originally native to North and South America, the species has spread through commerce and human transport to Europe, Asia, Africa, and beyond, where it thrives in the stable temperature and prey-rich conditions provided by human habitation. The web design is deceptively effective: irregular sticky threads radiate in all directions from a silk retreat, ensnaring flies, mosquitoes, ants, and other arthropods that blunder into the structure. Females are long-lived—surviving several years—and produce multiple egg sacs containing hundreds of eggs during a lifetime, contributing to the species' population resilience. Parasteatoda tepidariorum has become an important laboratory model organism for arachnid developmental biology, with its genome sequenced to facilitate studies of spider gene expression, venom evolution, and silk production. It is broadly classified as Least Concern given its cosmopolitan distribution and remarkable adaptation to anthropogenic environments.