Gnaphosidae  Banks, 1892 / Civizelotes  Senglet, 2012   13 species

Civizelotes caucasius (L. Koch, 1866)

Description

Epigyne sclerotised only anteriorly. Femur I with bright spot. Opisthosoma with dark brown scuticula, brown-grey to black-brown, legs slightly brighter.

Body length male: 4.4-6.5 mm
Body length female: 5.4-6.3 mm
Additional information

in dry and sunny locations

Distribution
  Presence
  No data
Global distribution (WSC 2026): Europe, Turkey, Caucasus, Kazakhstan, Iran, Central Asia, China
Phenology
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
 male  female
Figures
Distribution List
Albania   (Naumova et al., 2016b; Blick, 2018) ||| Austria   (Thaler & Knoflach, 2004b) ||| Azerbaijan   (Otto, 2022) ||| Bulgaria   (Blagoev et al., 2018) ||| Croatia   (Milosevic, 2002) ||| Czechia   (Růžička & Řezáč, 2022a) ||| France   (Le Peru, 2007) ||| France / Corsica   (Lissner, 2016c) ||| Georgia   (Otto, 2022) ||| Greece   (Senglet, 2012) ||| Greece / Crete   (Senglet, 2012) ||| Hungary   (Samu & Szinetár, 1999) ||| Italy   (Isaia et al., 2025) ||| Kosovo   (Geci et al., 2023) ||| North Macedonia   (Komnenov, 2014) ||| Portugal   (Branco et al., 2019) ||| Romania   (Weiss & Petrișor, 1999) ||| Russia, Eastern   (Tuneva & Esyunin, 2003a) ||| Russia, Southern   (Otto, 2022; Ponomarev, 2022) ||| Serbia   (Grbić et al., 2015) ||| Slovakia   (Gajdoš et al., 1999) ||| Spain   (Branco et al., 2019) ||| Turkey (Asia)   (Danışman et al., 2025a) ||| Turkey (Europe)   (Demircan Aksan & Topçu, 2022c; Demircan & Topçu, 2016) ||| Ukraine   (Polchaninova & Prokopenko, 2019) |||
References

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) pdf

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 pdf

Branco V V, Morano E, Cardoso P (2019) An update to the Iberian spider checklist (Araneae). Zootaxa 4614: 201-254 pdf

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 pdf

Demircan Aksan N, Topçu A (2022c) A preliminary checklist of the spider fauna of European Türkiye. Serket 19: 39-56 pdf

Demircan N, Topçu A (2016) First records for spider fauna of the European part of Turkey (Araneae). Serket 15: 85-91 pdf

Gajdoš P, Svatoň J, Sloboda J (1999) Katalóg pavúkov Slovenska. Catalogue of Slovakian spiders. Ústav kr. ekol. SAV, Bratislava, 337 pp.

Geci D, Naumova M, Ibrahimi H, Grapci-Kotori L, Gashi A, Bilalli A, Musliu M (2023) Contribution to spider fauna (Arachnida: Araneae) from Bjeshkët e Nemuna mountains (Kosovo). Natura Croatica 32: 525-547 pdf

Grbić G, Hänggi A, Savić D (2015) New faunistic records of spiders (Arachnida, Areneae [sic]) from the Fruška Gora mountain, northern Serbia. Acta Zoologica Bulgarica 67: 479-486 pdf

Grimm U (1985) Die Gnaphosidae Mitteleuropas (Arachnida, Araneae). Abhandlungen des Naturwissenschaftlichen Vereins in Hamburg (NF) 26: 1-318 pdf

Isaia M, Tolve M, Pantini P (2025) Araneae.it: 2.0: the new updated version of the digital catalog of the Italian spiders and other arachnids (Arachnida: Araneae, Opiliones, Scorpiones, Pseudoscorpiones, Palpigradi, Solifugae). Fragmenta Entomologica 57: 197-204 pdf

Jézéquel J F (1962a) Contribution à l'étude des Zelotes femelles (Araneida, Labidognatha, Drassodidae "Gnaphosidae") de la fauna française. Verhandlungen der Deutschen Zoologischen Gesellschaft (Zool. Anz.) 25(Suppl.): 519-532 pdf

Komnenov M (2014) Spider fauna of the Osogovo Mt. Range, Northeastern Macedonia. Fauna Balkana 2: 1-267 pdf

Lan Q, Zhang F (2017) Redescription species Civizelotes caucasius, representing newly recorded of the genus Civizelotes from China (Araneae: Gnaphosidae). Acta Arachnologica Sinica 26: 65-70 pdf

Le Peru B (2007) Catalogue et répartition des araignées de France. Revue Arachnologique 16: 1-468 pdf

Levy G (1998c) The ground-spider genera Setaphis, Trachyzelotes, Zelotes, and Drassyllus (Araneae: Gnaphosidae) in Israel. Israel Journal of Zoology 44: 93-158 pdf

Lissner J (2016c) A small study of the Corsican spider and pseudoscorpion fauna (Araneae, Pseudoscorpiones). Nieuwsbrief SPINED 36: 5-15 pdf

Løvbrekke H (unpubl.)

Miller F (1967) Studien über die Kopulationsorgane der Spinnengattung Zelotes, Micaria, Robertus und Dipoena nebst Beschreibung einiger neuen oder unvollkommen bekannten Spinnenarten. Přírodovědné práce ústavů Československé Akademie Věd v Brně (N.S.) 1: 251-298 pdf

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]. pdf

Naumova M, Hristovski S, Hristov G H (2016b) Spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) from Prespa National Park, Albania. Acta Zoologica Bulgarica 68: 503-511 pdf

Noflatscher M-T (1993) Beiträge zur Spinnenfauna Südtirols - IV: Epigäische Spinnen am Vinschgauer Sonnenberg. Berichte des Naturwissenschaftlich-Medizinischen Vereins in Innsbruck 80: 273-294 pdf

Otto S (2022) Caucasian spiders. A faunistic database on the spiders of the Caucasus Ecoregion. Database version 02.2022. Internet: caucasus-spiders.info.

Polchaninova N, Prokopenko E (2019) An updated checklist of spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) of Left-Bank Ukraine. Arachnologische Mitteilungen 57: 60-64 & App pdf

Ponomarev A V (2022) Spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) of the southeast of the Russian Plain: catalogue, the fauna specific features. SSC RAS Publishers, Rostov-on-Don, 640 pp. pdf

Růžička V, Řezáč M (2022a) Seznam pavouků České republiky. List of spiders of the Czech Republic. Online at https://www.arachnology.cz/seznam-pavouku-cr-26.html and https://www.arachnology.cz/en/seznam-pavouku-cr-26.html pdf

Samu F, Szinetár C (1999) Bibliographic check list of the Hungarian spider fauna. Bulletin of the British Arachnological Society 11: 161-184 pdf

Senglet A (2004) Copulatory mechanisms in Zelotes, Drassyllus and Trachyzelotes (Araneae, Gnaphosidae), with additional faunistic and taxonomic data on species from southwest Europe. Mitteilungen der Schweizerischen Entomologischen Gesellschaft 77: 87-119 pdf

Senglet A (2012) Civizelotes new genus, and other new or little known Zelotinae (Araneae, Gnaphosidae). Revue Suisse de Zoologie 119: 501-528 pdf

Taberlet J-P (unpubl.)

Thaler K, Knoflach B (2004b) Zur Faunistik der Spinnen (Araneae) von Österreich: Gnaphosidae, Thomisidae (Dionycha pro parte). Linzer Biologische Beiträge 36: 417-484 pdf

Tuneva T K, Esyunin S L (2003a) A review of the Gnaphosidae fauna of the Urals (Aranei), 3. New species and new records, chiefly from the south Urals. Arthropoda Selecta 11: 223-234 pdf

Weiss I, Petrișor A (1999) List of the spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) from Romania. Travaux du Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle “Grigore Antipa” 41: 79-107 pdf

WSC (2026) World Spider Catalog. Version 27. Natural History Museum Bern, online at http://wsc.nmbe.ch (13.2.2026) doi: 10.24436/2 pdf

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