Araneidae  Clerck, 1757 / Larinia  Simon, 1874   8 species

Larinia elegans Spassky, 1939

Description
Male

Male palp with small process, bent toward cymbium.
Prosoma yellow-brown. Sternum yellow-brown. Legs pale yellow, completely bright. Opisthosoma with continuous longitudinal bands, often very bright, dorsally with 3 pairs of dark spots.

Body length male: 6.8 mm
Female

Epigyne with very short scapus, not reaching beyond lateral parts. 

Body length female: 7.3-11.0 mm
Additional information

In reed belt of large, not to deep lakes.

N.B. The illustrations of the male palps are mixed-up in Marusik (1986): figures 3.3-4 show L. bonneti; f. 2.3-4 show L. elegans.

Distribution
  Presence
  No data
Global distribution (WSC 2026): Austria to China
Phenology
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
 male  female
Figures
Distribution List
Austria   (Nemenz & Pühringer, 1973) ||| Czechia   (Šich & Rückl, 2020; Řezáč et al., 2021; Růžička & Řezáč, 2022a) ||| Hungary   (Samu & Szinetár, 1999) ||| North Macedonia   (Šich et al., 2023) ||| Russia, Southern   (Otto, 2022; Ponomarev, 2022) ||| Slovakia   (Purgat et al., 2025) ||| Ukraine   (Polchaninova & Prokopenko, 2019) |||
References

Marusik Y M A (1986) A redescription of types of certain orb-weaving spiders (Araneidae, Tetragnathidae) from S. A. Spassky collection. Vestnik Zoologii 6: 19-22 pdf

Marusik Y M. (1987b) The orb-weaver genus Larinia Simon in the USSR (Aranei, Araneidae). Spixiana 9: 245-254 pdf

Nemenz H, Pühringer G (1973) Zur Taxonomie und Ökologie von Singa phragmiteti Nemenz 1956. Sitzungsberichte der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften (I) 181: 101-109 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

Purgat P, Šestáková A, Korenko S, Gajdoš P (2025) Two rare wetland spider species new to Slovakia: Larinia elegans Spassky, 1939 and Tetragnatha reimoseri (Roșca, 1939) (Araneae, Araneidae, Tetragnathidae). Check List 21: 1160-1170 pdf

Řezáč M, Růžička V, Hula V, Dolanský J, Machač O, Roušar A (2021) Spiders newly observed in Czechia in recent years – overlooked or invasive species? BioInvasions Records 10: 555-566 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

Šich R, Komnenov M, Trajkovska M, Just P, Střeštík V, Rückl K (2023) New records of Larinia elegans (Araneae: Araneidae) from Czechia and North Macedonia with remarks on its ecology. Arachnologische Mitteilungen 65: 8-12 pdf

Šich R, Rückl K (2020) První nález křižáka rákosového (Larinia elegans Spassky, 1939) v České republice [The first find of the reed crusader (Larinia elegans Spassky, 1939) in the Czech Republic]. Pavouk 48: 3-5 pdf

Szinetár C, Eichardt J (2004) Larinia species (Araneidae, Araneae) in Hungary. Morphology, phenology and habitats of Larinia jeskovi Marusik, 1986, Larinia elegans Spassky, 1939, and Larinia bonneti Spassky, 1939. In: Samu F, Szinetár C (eds.) European Arachnology 2002. Plant Protection Institute & Berzsenyi College Budapest, pp. 179-186. 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

Updates
30-04-2026 Image insert
27-11-2025 Image insert
27-11-2025 Distribution insert Detail
14-08-2023 Image insert
14-08-2023 Distribution insert Detail
05-08-2021 Distribution update Detail
19-04-2021 Distribution update Detail
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09-03-2016 Image insert
01-12-2013 Distribution update Detail