Argyroneta aquatica (Clerck, 1757)
Description
Prosoma dark brown. Sternum dark brown. Chelicerae dark brown. Legs dark brown. Opisthosoma dark grey-brown to black. In living specimens opisthosoma and sternum shining silver due to attached air. Whole body covered with dense, specialized hairs, that are especially long and partly occur in tufts on leg IV.
Body length male: 10-15 mmBody length female: 8-9 mm
Additional information
Big water spider, similar to Agelenidae, that lives in clean, densely overgrown still waters and that leaves the water only exceptionally. Builds several retreats filled with air under water and an irregular web, swims very well, ventral side upwards.
There are a few older and unverified reports that this spider can bite humans. Given its size, this is in principle possible, however there is no recent published information of a verified spider bite.
Distribution
Phenology
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
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Figures
Pedipalp
(Azheganova 1968)
Pedipalp, ventral view
(de Blauwe 1973)
Pedipalp
(de Blauwe 1973)
Pedipalp
(Roberts 1995)
Pedipalp
(Loksa 1969)
Pedipalp
(Locket & Millidge 1953)
Epigyne
(Dahl 1937)
Epigyne
(de Blauwe 1973)
Epigyne
(Roberts 1995)
Epigyne
(Loksa 1969)
Epigyne
(Locket & Millidge 1953)
Vulva
(Azheganova 1968)
Vulva
(Dahl 1937)
Opisthosoma, ventral view
(Roberts 1995)
Leg I and IV
(Roberts 1995)
References
Azheganova N S (1968) Kratkii opredelitel' paukov (Aranei) lesnoi i lesostepnoi zony SSSR. Akademia Nauk SSSR: 1-149
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)
Blauwe R de (1973) Revision de la famille des Agelenidae (Araneae) de la région Mediterranéenne. Bull Inst R Sci Nat Belg 49: 1-111
Cera I (2018) The checklist of Latvian spiders (Arachnida: Araneae). Environmental and Experimental Biology 16: 139-152 
Dahl M (1937) Spinnentiere oder Arachnoidea, VIII: Hahniidae, Argyronetidae. Tierwelt Deutschlands 33: 100-118
Danışman T, Kunt K B, Özkütük R S (2019) The checklist of the spiders of Turkey. Version 2018 [last updated 1 January 2019], online at http://www.spidersofturkey.info
Helsdingen P J van (2010a) Araneae. In: Fauna Europaea Database (Version 2010.1), online at www.european-arachnology.org
Kostanjšek R, Kuntner M (2015) Araneae Sloveniae: a national spider species checklist. ZooKeys 474: 1-91
Locket G H, Millidge A F (1953) British Spiders 2. Ray Soc London
Loksa I (1969) Pokok I-Araneae I. Fauna Hungariae 97: 2.1-2.133
Nentwig W, Gnädinger M, Fuchs J, Ceschi A (2013) A two year study of verified spider bites in Switzerland and a review of the European spider bite literature. Toxicon 73: 104-110
Otto S (2017) Caucasian spiders. A faunistic database on the spiders of the Caucasus Ecoregion. Database version 08.2017. Internet: caucasus-spiders.info.
Pantini P, Isaia M (2018) Checklist of the Italian spiders (version June 2018). online at http://www.museoscienzebergamo.it/web/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=96&Itemid=94
Roberts M J (1995) Spiders of Britain and Northern Europe. Collins Field Guide Bath
World Spider Catalog (2019) World Spider Catalog, version 20.0. Natural History Museum Bern, online at http://wsc.nmbe.ch (20.01.2019) doi: 10.24436/2