A small spider of caves in north-western Italy, known from three caves in Piemonte.
It has strongly reduced eyes and lacks abdominal pigmentation.
Troglohyphantes pedemontanus is a spider about three millimetres long. It lives in caves whose openings lie in beech woodland, occupying the underground environment beneath the forest.
A 2019 study tested spiders from Grotta di Bossea to examine their response to warming. Each spider was placed in an individual container and acclimated for one day at cave temperature. The temperature was then increased by one degree Celsius per day while humidity remained at 100 percent.
At about 13 degrees Celsius, half the tested spiders were completely immobile, including their appendages. This was approximately four degrees above the cave’s annual mean of 8.9 degrees. The authors reported no recovery after heating. Specimens kept at stable temperatures for comparison did not die during the experiments.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
Warming is projected to reduce the suitable habitat available in its caves.
The 2022 species profile states that part of the range lies within the Grotte di Bossea Special Area of Conservation. For the tourist cave, it recommends stricter codes of conduct, training for tourism staff and communication with the public. Continued monitoring of the spiders and their habitat is also identified as necessary to test projected changes.