Araneidae  Clerck, 1757 / Araniella  Chamberlin & Ivie, 1942   7 species

Araniella inconspicua (Simon, 1874)

Description

Male palp with gracile median apophysis, medially with small, slightly protruding, tooth-like structure. Epigyne completely covered by scapus. Prosoma brown. Legs brown. Opisthosoma dorso-laterally always without black spots, ventrally without spots.

Body length male: 4-5 mm
Body length female: 5-8.7 mm
Additional information

Thermophilic, on oaks and pines, biology mostly unknown

Frequency: Rarely found

Distribution
  Presence
  No data
Distribution comment: Record from Albania doubtful (Vrenozi, pers. comm.), therefore removed
Global distribution (WSC 2025): Europe, Turkey, Russia (Europe to Far East), Central Asia, China, Iran?
Phenology
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
 male  female
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   (van Helsdingen & IJland, 2015; Blick, 2018) ||| Austria   (Thaler & Knoflach, 2003) ||| Belarus   (Ivanov, 2013) ||| Belgium   (Bosmans & Van Keer, 2017) ||| Bulgaria   (Blagoev et al., 2018) ||| Cyprus   (Bosmans et al., 2019c) ||| Czechia   (Růžička & Řezáč, 2022a; Rückl, 2023b) ||| Denmark   (Scharff & Gudik-Sørensen, 2006) ||| France   (Le Peru, 2007) ||| France / Corsica   (Le Peru, 2007) ||| Georgia   (Otto, 2022) ||| Germany   (Blick et al., 2016) ||| Greece   (Bosmans & Chatzaki, 2005) ||| Hungary   (Samu & Szinetár, 1999) ||| Ireland  Removed (Nolan & Voss, 2025) ||| Italy   (Pantini & Isaia, 2019) ||| Italy / Sicily   (Pantini & Isaia, 2019) ||| Latvia   (Cera, 2018) ||| Netherlands   (van Helsdingen, 2025a) ||| North Macedonia   (Blagoev, 2002) ||| Poland   (Rozwałka & Stanska, 2008) ||| Portugal   (Branco et al., 2019) ||| Romania   (Weiss & Petrișor, 1999) ||| Russia, Central   (Ponomarev, 2022) ||| Russia, Eastern   (no references) ||| Russia, Northern   (no references) ||| Russia, Southern   (Otto, 2022) ||| Serbia   (Grbić & Savić, 2010) ||| Slovakia   (Gajdoš et al., 1999) ||| Spain   (Branco et al., 2019) ||| Sweden   (Kronestedt, 2001) ||| Switzerland   (Maurer & Hänggi, 1990) ||| Turkey (Asia)   (Danışman et al., 2025a) ||| Ukraine   (Kovblyuk & Kastrygina, 2015b) ||| United Kingdom   (Lavery, 2019) |||
References

Almquist S (2006) Swedish Araneae, part 1 – families Atypidae to Hahniidae (Linyphiidae excluded). Insect Systematics & Evolution, Supplement 62(2005): 1-284 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

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

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 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

Bosmans R, Van Keer K (2017) Een herziene soortenlijst van de Belgische spinnen (Araneae). Nieuwsbrief van de Belgische Arachnologische Vereniging 32: 39-69 pdf

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

Cera I (2018) The checklist of Latvian spiders (Arachnida: Araneae). Environmental and Experimental Biology 16: 139-152 pdf

Danışman T, Kunt K B, Özkütük R S, Coşar İ (2025a) The checklist of the spiders of Turkey. Version 2025 [last updated 22 July 2025], online at http://www.spidersofturkey.info pdf

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

Grbić G, Savić D (2010) Contribution to the knowledge of the spider fauna (Arachnida, Araneae) on the Fruška Gora Mt. Acta Entomologica Serbica 15: 243-260 pdf

Helsdingen P J van (2025a) Catalogus van de Nederlandse spinnen. Versie 2025.1. 249 pp. pdf

Helsdingen P J van, IJland S (2015) A quick scan of the spider fauna in the surroundings of Përmet, Albania (Arachnida, Araneae) - preliminary report. Nieuwsbrief SPINED 35: 15-33 pdf

Ivanov V V (2013) The checklist of Belarusian spiders (Arachnida, Araneae). Zoology and Ecology 4: 293-311 pdf

Kovblyuk M M, Kastrygina Z A (2015b) Updated catalogue of the spiders (Arachnida, Aranei) of the Crimea. Ukainska Entomofaunistyka 6(2): 1-81 pdf

Kronestedt T (2001) Checklist of Spiders (Araneae) in Sweden [Preliminary version February 2001] pdf

Lavery A (2019) A revised checklist of the spiders of Great Britain and Ireland. Arachnology 18: 196-212 pdf

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

Locket G H, Millidge A F (1953) British spiders. Vol. II. Ray Society, London, 449 pp. pdf

Locket G H, Millidge A F, Merrett P (1974) British Spiders, Volume III. Ray Society, London, 315 pp. pdf

Loksa I (1972) Pokok II-Araneae II. Fauna Hungariae 109: 1-112 pdf

Maurer R, Hänggi A (1990) Katalog der schweizerischen Spinnen. Documenta Faunistica Helvetiae 12 pdf

Nolan M, Voss S (2025) The vouched, the unvouched and a digital phantom; four spiders (Araneae) published for, but not occurring in Ireland. Bulletin of the Irish Biogeographical Society 48: 280-286 pdf

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

Pantini P, Isaia M (2019) Araneae.it: the online catalog of Italian spiders, with addenda on other arachnid orders occurring in Italy (Arachnida: Araneae, Opiliones, Palpigradi, Pseudoscorpionida, Scorpiones, Solifugae). Fragmenta Entomologica 51: 127-152 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

Roberts M J (1995) Collins Field Guide: Spiders of Britain & Northern Europe. HarperCollins, London, 383 pp. pdf

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 pdf

Rückl K (2023b) V čem tkví nenápadnost křižáka nenápadného? [What does the inconspicuousness of Araniella inconspicua consist in?]. Pavouk 54: 12-21 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

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 pdf

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

Scharff N, Gudik-Sørensen O (2006) Katalog over Danmarks edderkopper (Araneae). Catalogue of the spiders of Denmark (Araneae). Entomologiske Meddelelser 74: 3-71 pdf

Spasojevic T, Kropf C, Nentwig W, Lasut L (2016) Combining morphology, DNA sequences, and morphometrics: revising closely related species in the orb-weaving spider genus Araniella (Araneae, Araneidae). Zootaxa 4111: 448-470 pdf

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 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

Wiehle H (1931) Spinnentiere oder Arachnoidea, VI. 27: Familie Araneidae. Die Tierwelt Deutschlands 23: 47-136 pdf

WSC (2025) World Spider Catalog. Version 26. Natural History Museum Bern, online at http://wsc.nmbe.ch (28.2.2025) doi: 10.24436/2 pdf

Updates
26-09-2025 Distribution insert Detail
04-07-2025 Image insert
02-07-2025 Distribution update Detail
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