Lycosidae  Sundevall, 1833 / Arctosa  C. L. Koch, 1847   36 species

Arctosa variana C. L. Koch, 1847

Description
Male

Tegular apophysis of male palp with rather short ventral tooth. Prosoma with yellow longitudinal band. Legs yellowish, distinctly annulated. Body with contrasting pattern.

Body length male: 5.0-6.8 mm
Female

Epigyne 1.9 times wider than long, margins sclerotised, converging anteriorly, anterior margin strongly biconcave. Median septum triangular. Receptacula project far beyond anterior margin of epigyne. Colouration as in males.

Body length female: 6.0-7.1 mm
Distribution
  Presence
  No data
Global distribution (WSC 2026): Mediterranean to Central Asia
Figures
Distribution List

"No references" does not mean that the species does not occur in this country, but that we have not yet inserted the reference for it. We are working on it.

Albania   (Deltshev et al., 2011b) ||| Algeria   (Benhacene et al., 2023) ||| Austria  Removed (Buchar et al., 2006) ||| Bulgaria   (Blagoev et al., 2018) ||| Croatia   (Milosevic, 2002) ||| Cyprus   (Bosmans et al., 2019c) ||| France   (Le Peru, 2007) ||| Greece   (Bosmans & Chatzaki, 2005) ||| Greece / Crete   (Bosmans & Chatzaki, 2005) ||| Italy   (Isaia et al., 2025) ||| Italy / Sardinia   (Isaia et al., 2025) ||| Italy / Sicily   (Isaia et al., 2025) ||| Libya   (Caporiacco, 1936b) ||| Montenegro   (Naumova et al., 2019a) ||| Morocco   (Benhalima & Bosmans, 2024) ||| North Macedonia   (Blagoev, 2002) ||| Portugal   (Branco et al., 2019) ||| Romania   (Weiss & Petrișor, 1999) ||| Russia, Southern   (Otto, 2022) ||| Serbia   (Deltshev et al., 2003b) ||| Spain   (Branco et al., 2019) ||| Tunisia   (Bosmans, 2003; Kmira et al., 2025) ||| Turkey (Asia)   (Danışman et al., 2025a) ||| Turkey (Europe)   (Demircan Aksan & Topçu, 2022c) |||
References

Benhacene R, Adjami A, Hadjeb A, Kermiche K, Ouakid M L (2023) Bibliographic checklist of the Algerian spider fauna (Araneae). Zootaxa 5352: 301-357 pdf

Benhalima S, Bosmans R (2024) First historical checklist of spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) from Morocco, between 1840–2024. Zootaxa 5555: 407-535 pdf

Blagoev G (2002) Check list of Macedonian spiders (Araneae). Acta Zoologica Bulgarica 54: 9-34 pdf

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

Bosmans R (2003) A checklist of the spiders of Tunisia, with description of a new species of Palliduphantes Saaristo & Tanasevitch (Araneae: Linyphiidae). Kaupia - Darmstädter Beiträge zur Naturgeschichte 12: 89-109 pdf

Bosmans R, Chatzaki M (2005) A catalogue of the spiders of Greece – a critical review of all spider species cited from Greece with their localities. Nieuwsbrief van de Belgische arachnologische Vereniging 20 (2, suppl.): 1-124 pdf

Bosmans R, Van Keer J, Russell-Smith A, Hadjiconstantis M, Komnenov M, Bosselaers J, Huber S, McCowan D, Snazell R, Decae A, Zoumides C, Kielhorn K-H, Oger P (2019c) Spiders of Cyprus (Araneae). A catalogue of all currently known species from Cyprus. Newsletter of the Belgian Arachnological Society 34, Suppl. 1: 1-173 pdf

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

Buchar J, Knoflach B, Thaler K (2006) On the identity of Arctosa varians C. L. Koch and Artosa similis Schenkel, with notes on related species. Bulletin of the British Arachnological Society 13: 329-336 pdf

Caporiacco L di (1936b) Aracnidi fezzanesi raccolti dal Prof. G. Scortecci nel 1934 - XII (Missione della R. Società Geografica). Atti della Società Italiana di Scienze Naturali e del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano 75: 67-94 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

Deltshev C D, Ćurčić B P M, Blagoev GA (2003b) The spiders of Serbia. Inst. Zoology, Fac. Biology, Belgrade & Inst. Zoology, Bulg. Acad. Sci., Sofia. 832 pp.

Deltshev C, Vrenozi B, Blagoev G, Lazarov S (2011b) Spiders of Albania – faunistic and zoogeographical review (Arachnida: Araneae). Acta Zoologica Bulgarica 63: 125-144 pdf

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

Helsdingen P J van, IJland S (2024) Spiders (Arachnida, Araneae) from northern Greece. Nieuwsbrief SPINED 42: 2-18 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

Kmira G, Nasri-Ammar, Petillon J, Bosmans R (2025) Catalog of the spiders of Tunisia (Arachnida: Araneae). Zootaxa 5641: 1-95 pdf

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

Lugetti G, Tongiorgi P (1965) Revisione delle specie italiane dei generi Arctosa C. L. Koch e Tricca Simon con note su una Acantholycosa della Alpi Giulie (Aran. Lycosidae). Redia 49: 165-228 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, Lazarov S, Deltshev C (2019a) Faunistic diversity of the spiders in Montenegro (Arachnida: Araneae). Ecologica Montenegrina 22: 50-89 pdf

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

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

Updates
26-06-2025 Distribution update Detail
21-01-2025 Distribution update Detail
21-01-2025 Image insert
31-03-2020 Image insert
04-12-2013 Distribution update Detail