Araniella proxima (Kulczyński, 1885)
Description
Male palp with long median apophysis, uniformly bent sickle-like toward tip. Epigyne with narrow scapus (1/2 width of epigyne at most), tapering and reaching far beyond epigyne. Epigyne deeply incised on both sides of scapus and with strongly sclerotised tails. Prosoma light brown to brown, male: almost always with dark marginal band. Opisthosoma dorsally with 0-4 pairs of black lateral spots, ventrally almost unexceptionally without distinct spots within (not always) dark median field.
Body length male: 4.5-5.5 mmBody length female: 6.0-8.0 mm
Additional information
Mainly in the mountains. Biology mostly unknown
Distribution
Phenology
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
 |  |
Figures
Pedipalp
(Azheganova 1968)
Pedipalp
(Roberts 1998)
Pedipalp
(Heimer & Nentwig 1991)
Pedipalp
(Løvbrekke unpubl.)
Pedipalp, caudal view
(Løvbrekke unpubl.)
Pedipalp, lateral view
(Løvbrekke unpubl.)
Pedipalp, retrolateral view
(Zamani et al. 2020a)
Pedipalp, retrolateral view
(Zamani et al. 2020a)
Pedipalp, ventral view
(Zamani et al. 2020a)
Pedipalp, ventro-retrolateral view
(Zamani et al. 2020a)
Pedipalp, caudal view
(Loria 2023)
Pedipalp, ventral view
(Loria 2023)
Tip of bulbus, caudal view
(Løvbrekke unpubl.)
Bulbus
(Løvbrekke unpubl.)
Median apophysis
(Løvbrekke unpubl.)
Epigyne
(Azheganova 1968)
Epigyne
(Heimer & Nentwig 1991)
Epigyne
(Roberts 1998)
Epigyne
(Roberts 1998)
Epigyne, posterior view
(Almquist 2006)
Epigyne, ventral view
(Løvbrekke unpubl.)
Epigyne, posterior view
(Løvbrekke unpubl.)
Epigyne, proximal view
(Fjellberg unpubl.)
Epigyne, anterior view
(Zamani et al. 2020a)
Epigyne, lateral view
(Zamani et al. 2020a)
Epigyne, posterior view
(Zamani et al. 2020a)
Epigyne, ventral view
(Zamani et al. 2020a)
Vulva, ventral view
(Løvbrekke unpubl.)
Opisthosoma, dorsal view
(Heimer & Nentwig 1991)
Distribution List
References
Almquist S (2006) Swedish Araneae, part 1 – families Atypidae to Hahniidae (Linyphiidae excluded). Insect Systematics & Evolution, Supplement 62(2005): 1-284 
Azheganova N S (1968) Kratkii opredelitel' paukov (Aranei) lesnoi i lesostepnoi zony SSSR. Akademia Nauk SSSR, 149pp.
Ballini S, Stauder F, Steinberger K-H (2017) Webspinnen und Weberknechte (Arachnida: Araneae, Opiliones). In: Schatz H & Wilhalm T (Eds): Tag der Artenvielfalt 2016 in Matsch (Gemeinde Mals, Südtirol, Italien). Gredleriana 17: 278-280
Blagoev G (2002) Check list of Macedonian spiders (Araneae). Acta Zoologica Bulgarica 54: 9-34
Blagoev G, Deltshev C, Lazarov S, Naumova M (2018) The spiders (Araneae) of Bulgaria. Version: August 2018. National Museum of Natural History, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Online at http://www.nmnhs.com/spiders-bulgaria/ (accessed on 10.9.2018)
Blick T (2018) A small collection of spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) from the River Vjosa, Albania – with an updated spider checklist of Albania. Acta ZooBot Austria 155: 213-232
Blick T, Finch O-D, Harms K H, Kiechle J, Kielhorn K-H , Kreuels M, Malten A, Martin D, Muster C, Nährig D, Platen R, Rödel I, Scheidler M, Staudt A, Stumpf H, Tolke D (2016) Rote Liste und Gesamtartenliste der Spinnen (Arachnida: Araneae) Deutschlands. 3. Fassung, Stand April 2008, einzelne Änderungen und Nachträge bis August 2015. Naturschutz und Biologische Vielfalt 70/4: 383-510
Bosmans R, Van Keer K (2017) Een herziene soortenlijst van de Belgische spinnen (Araneae). Nieuwsbrief van de Belgische Arachnologische Vereniging 32: 39-69
Cera I (2018) The checklist of Latvian spiders (Arachnida: Araneae). Environmental and Experimental Biology 16: 139-152
Danışman T, Kunt K B, Özkütük R S, Coşar İ (2025a) The checklist of the spiders of Turkey. Version 2025 [last updated 01 December 2025], online at http://www.spidersofturkey.info
Esyunin S L, Efimik V E (1996a) Catalogue of the spiders (Arachnida, Aranei) of the Urals. KMK Scientific Press, Moscow, 228 pp.
Farlund M (2019) Norwegian Spiders - Norske edderkopper. Siste oppdatering for funn av nye arter 10. oktober, 2019. Online at http://crocea.wordpress.com/norsk-artsliste/
Fjellberg A (unpubl.) .
Gajdoš P, Svatoň J, Sloboda J (1999) Katalóg pavúkov Slovenska. Catalogue of Slovakian spiders. Ústav kr. ekol. SAV, Bratislava, 337 pp.
Heimer S, Nentwig W (1991) Spinnen Mitteleuropas. Paul Parey Berlin
Ivanov V V (2013) The checklist of Belarusian spiders (Arachnida, Araneae). Zoology and Ecology 4: 293-311
Koponen S, Fritzén N R, Pajunen T (2016) Checklist of spiders in Finland (Araneae). 6th version, December 2016, online at http://biolcoll.utu.fi/arach/checklist_of_spiders_in_Finland.htm
Kronestedt T (2001) Checklist of Spiders (Araneae) in Sweden [Preliminary version February 2001]
Loria P (2023) Cinq premières et une deuxième mentions d’araignées pour la Suisse (Araneae). Entomo Helvetica 16: 123-136
Løvbrekke H (unpubl.)
Milosevic B (2002) Aranea – Popis vrsta – Checklist. Hrvatsko entomološko društvo – Inventar entomofaune Hrvatske [Aranea – List of species – Checklist. Croatian Entomological Society – Inventory of Croatian entomofauna].
Naumova M, Lazarov S, Deltshev C (2019a) Faunistic diversity of the spiders in Montenegro (Arachnida: Araneae). Ecologica Montenegrina 22: 50-89
Polchaninova N, Prokopenko E (2019) An updated checklist of spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) of Left-Bank Ukraine. Arachnologische Mitteilungen 57: 60-64 & App
Roberts M J (1998) Spinnengids. Tirion, Baarn, Netherlands, 397 pp.
Rozwałka R, Stanska M (2008) Check-list of spiders (Araneae) of Poland. 1. December 2008. online at http://www.arachnologia.edu.pl/en/species/8-spiders-of-poland.html
Sacher P (1990) Untersuchungen über Zahl, Anordnung und taxonomischen Wert der dorso-lateralen Abdominalpunkte in der Gattung Araniella (Arachnida: Araneae). Acta Zoologica Fennica 190: 345-349
Schikora H-B (2014) Die Webspinnen des Regenrnoorkomplexes Zehlaubruch, Kaliningrad-Region von Russland (Arachnida, Araneae). Abhandlungen des Naturwissenschaftlichen Vereins zu Bremen 47: 427-446
Thaler K, Knoflach B (2003) Zur Faunistik der Spinnen (Araneae) von Österreich: Orbiculariae p.p. (Araneidae, Tetragnathidae, Theridiosomatidae, Uloboridae). Linzer Biologische Beiträge 35: 613-655
Uyar Z, Bosmans R, Uğurtaş, I H (2014) New faunistic data for the family Araneidae (Araneae) in West Anatolia (Turkey). Entomological News 124: 120-130
Vidal E (2014) Découverte en France d’Araniella proxima (Kulczyński, 1885) (Araneae, Araneidae). Revue Arachnologique (2) 1: 13-14
Vilbaste A (1987) Eesti Ämblikud (Aranei). Annoteeritud nimestik. Estonian spiders (Aranei). An annotated check list. Valgus, Tallinn. 113 pp. & 512 maps on 67 unpag. pages
WSC (2026) World Spider Catalog. Version 27. Natural History Museum Bern, online at http://wsc.nmbe.ch (20.5.2026) doi: 10.24436/2
Zamani A, Marusik Y M, Šestáková A (2020a) On Araniella and Neoscona (Araneae, Araneidae) of the Caucasus, Middle East and Central Asia. ZooKeys 906: 13-40
Updates
| 02-07-2025 | Distribution update | Detail |
| 20-01-2025 | Distribution insert | Detail |
| 20-01-2025 | Distribution update | Detail |
| 16-11-2024 | Distribution update | Detail |
| 16-08-2023 | Image insert | |
| 27-07-2023 | Distribution insert | Detail |
| 30-05-2023 | Distribution update | Detail |
| 13-01-2023 | Distribution update | Detail |
| 17-02-2020 | Distribution insert | Detail |
| 24-01-2020 | Image insert | |
| 23-12-2019 | Image insert | |
| 08-04-2016 | Image insert | |
| 23-02-2016 | Image insert | |
| 13-10-2014 | Distribution update | Detail |
| 20-05-2014 | Distribution update | Detail |