Theridiidae  Sundevall, 1833 / Steatoda  Sundevall, 1833   20 species

Steatoda paykulliana (Walckenaer, 1806)

Description
Male

Palp relatively small, may be overlooked when viewed from above. Prosoma dark brown to black. Legs yellow-brown, coxa, trochanter and patella darker, the other segments dark apically. Opisthosoma black, with a whitish band around the front, and a strongly dentate, median longitudinal band, ventrally dark brown, with red-brown markings.

Body length male: 4.5-8.4 mm
Female

Prosoma dark purplish brown to black. Sternum dark brown. Legs brown. Opisthosoma black, with a red or yellow band around the front, sometimes with a median longitudinal series of chevrons.

Body length female: 8.0-13.0 mm
Additional information

Usually in dry or semi-dry habitats, dry grasslands, dunes, heathlands, calcareous hill, calcareous quarries, rock crevices, rarely in fallow orchards and meadows.

Distribution
  Presence
  Not established
  No data
Global distribution (WSC 2026): Europe, Mediterranean to Central Asia, India
Phenology
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
 male  female
Females possibly all the year, female with egg sac in March.
Figures
Distribution List
Albania   (Deltshev et al., 2011b; Vrenozi, 2012; Blick, 2018) ||| Algeria   (Benhacene et al., 2023) ||| Armenia   (Zarikian, 2022b) ||| Austria   (Knoflach & Thaler, 1998) ||| Azerbaijan   (Otto, 2022) ||| Belgium   (Bosmans & Van Keer, 2017) ||| Bosnia and Herzegovina   (Komnenov, 2010) ||| Bulgaria   (Blagoev et al., 2018) ||| Croatia   (Milosevic, 2002) ||| Cyprus   (Bosmans et al., 2019c) ||| Czechia   (Řezáč et al., 2021) ||| Egypt   (Van Keer et al., 2024; El-Hennawy, 2017a) ||| Finland   (Zamani & Koponen, 2025) ||| France   (Le Peru, 2007) ||| France / Corsica   (Le Peru, 2007) ||| Georgia   (Otto, 2022) ||| 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) ||| Kosovo   (Grapci-Kotori et al., 2022) ||| Libya   (Elkrew et al., 2024) ||| Malta   (Pfliegler et al., 2017) ||| Montenegro   (Naumova et al., 2019a) ||| Morocco   (Benhalima & Bosmans, 2024) ||| Netherlands   (van Helsdingen, 2023) ||| North Macedonia   (Komnenov, 2014) ||| Portugal   (Branco et al., 2019) ||| Romania   (Weiss & Petrișor, 1999) ||| Russia, Southern   (Otto, 2022; Ponomarev, 2022) ||| Serbia   (Grbić & Savić, 2010) ||| Slovenia   (Kostanjšek & Kuntner, 2015) ||| Spain   (Branco et al., 2019) ||| Spain / Balearic Islands   (Branco et al., 2019) ||| Switzerland   (Maurer & Hänggi, 1990) ||| Tunisia   (Van Keer et al., 2024) ||| Turkey (Asia)   (Danışman et al., 2025a) ||| Turkey (Europe)   (Demircan Aksan & Topçu, 2022c) ||| Ukraine   (Polchaninova & Prokopenko, 2019) ||| United Kingdom   (Lavery, 2019) |||
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, 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

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

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, 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

El-Hennawy H K (2017a) A list of Egyptian spiders (revised in 2017). Serket 15: 167-183 pdf

Elkrew H, Hamza A, Ghana S, Shaibi T, Swehli A I, Elmareme H, Ahmad A (2024) Checklist of the spiders (Araneae) of Libya. Pakistan Journal of Life and Social Sciences 22: 19346-19369 pdf

Grapci-Kotori L, Geci D, Naumova M, Ibrahimi H, Bilalli A, Musliu M, Gashi A, Kasumaj E (2022) Spiders from Sharr Mountain – new faunistic data (Arachnida: Araneae). Natura Croatica 31: 335-350 pdf

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 van (2023) Steatoda paykulliana in Spaanse broccoli [Steatoda paykulliana in Spanish broccoli]. Nieuwsbrief SPINED 40: 23-24 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

Knoflach B, Thaler K (1998) Kugelspinnen und verwandte Familien von Österreich: ökofaunistische Übersicht (Araneae: Theridiidae, Anapidae, Mysmenidae, Nesticidae). Stapfia 667-712 pdf

Komnenov M (2010) Checklist of spiders (Araneae) of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Uzizaž i Biospeld 5(2009): 52-69 pdf

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

Kostanjšek R, Kuntner M (2015) Araneae Sloveniae: a national spider species checklist. ZooKeys 474: 1-91 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

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

Noflatscher M-T (1991) Beiträge zur Spinnenfauna Südtirols - III: Epigäische Spinnen an Xerotherm-Standorten am Mitterberg, bei Neustift und Sterzing (Arachnida: Aranei). Berichte des Naturwissenschaftlich-Medizinischen Vereins in Innsbruck 78: 79-92 pdf

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

Pesarini C (unpubl.)

Pfliegler W A, Schönhofer A, Niedbała W, Vella P, Sciberras A, Vella A (2017) New records of mites (Acari) and harvestmen (Opiliones) from Malta with a preliminary checklist of Maltese Arachnida. Soil Organisms 89: 85-110 pdf

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

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

Van Keer J, Bosselaers J, Oger P (2024) Description of four new Steatoda species (Araneae: Theridiidae) from the Mediterranean region with notes on some related species. Journal of the Belgian Arachnological Society 39(2, suppl.): 1-77 pdf

Vrenozi B (2012) A collection of spiders (Araneae) in Albanian coastal areas. Arachnologische Mitteilungen 44: 41-46 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

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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

Zamani A, Koponen S (2025) First Nordic record of Pandava laminata (Araneae: Titanoecidae), with a synopsis of anthropochorous species of spiders in Finland. Arachnologische Mitteilungen 69: 5-9 pdf

Zarikian N A (2022b) New records on Salticidae and Theridiidae (Araneae) spiders from Armenia. Bulletin of the Iraq Natural History Museum 17: 169-185 pdf

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