Araneidae  Clerck, 1757 / Araneus  Clerck, 1757   24 species

Araneus saevus (L. Koch, 1872)

Description

Prosoma dark brown, eye region brighter reddish brown, margin darkened, provided with thick, white small hairs. Sternum red-brown, unicoloured, densely haired. Chelicerae red-brown. Legs brown, more darkly annulated. Opisthosoma grey-brown, anteriorly with yellowish white longitudinal stripe, broken into a row of spots posteriorly, with dark transverse stripes near folium.

Body length male: 10.1-13.9 mm
Body length female: 9.4-19.0 mm
Additional information

lives in tree crowns probably

Distribution
  Presence
  No data
Global distribution (WSC 2026): North America, Europe, Russia (Far East)
Phenology
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
 male  female
Figures
Distribution List
Austria   (Thaler & Knoflach, 2003) ||| Bulgaria   (Blagoev et al., 2018) ||| Czechia   (Růžička & Řezáč, 2022a) ||| Estonia   (Vilbaste, 1987) ||| Finland   (Koponen et al., 2016) ||| Germany   (Blick et al., 2016) ||| Italy   (Isaia et al., 2025) ||| Latvia   (Cera, 2018) ||| Liechtenstein   (Arnold, 2001) ||| North Macedonia   (Blagoev, 2002) ||| Norway   (Aakra & Hauge, 2003) ||| Poland   (Rozwałka & Stanska, 2008) ||| Romania   (Weiss & Petrișor, 1999) ||| Russia, Central   (Ponomarev, 2022) ||| Russia, Eastern   (Esyunin & Efimik, 1996a) ||| Russia, Northern   (Osipov, 2019) ||| Russia, Southern   (Otto, 2022) ||| Russia, Western   (no references) ||| Serbia   (Deltshev et al., 2003b) ||| Slovakia   (Gajdoš et al., 1999) ||| Sweden   (Kronestedt, 2001) ||| Switzerland   (Maurer & Hänggi, 1990) ||| Ukraine   (Fedoriak & Zhukovets, 2011) |||
References

Aakra K (2005) Hjulspinnere - Araneidae. Insekt-Nytt 30(1/2): 23-38 pdf

Aakra K, Hauge E (2003) Checklist of Norwegian spiders (Arachnida: Araneae), including Svalbard and Jan Mayen. Norwegian Journal of Entomology 50: 109-129 pdf

Arnold K (2001) Beitrag zur Spinnenfauna (Arachnida, Araneae) des Fürstentums Liechtenstein. Berichte der Botanisch-Zoologischen Gesellschaft Liechtenstein-Sargans-Werdenberg 28: 211-244 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, 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

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

Dolejš P, Rückl K (2017) Two rare spider species (Araneae: Araneidae, Theridiidae) found in the Šumava Mts. Journal of the National Museum (Prague), Natural History Series 186: 85-92 pdf

Esyunin S L, Efimik V E (1996a) Catalogue of the spiders (Arachnida, Aranei) of the Urals. KMK Scientific Press, Moscow, 228 pp. pdf

Fedoriak M, Zhukovets E (2011) Spiders of Chernivtsi city (Ukraine): a comparison actual species composition and species recorded by A. Roşsa (1930-1938). Biodiversitatea şi Managementul Insectelor din România. Simpozion (Suceava, 24-25 septembrie 2010). Suceava, Editura Universitâtii “Ştefan cel Mare”, pp. 157-169. pdf

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

Heimer S, Nentwig W (1991) Spinnen Mitteleuropas. Paul Parey Berlin 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

Koponen S, Fritzén N R, Pajunen T (2016) Checklist of spiders in Finland (Araneae). 6th version, December 2016, online at http://biolcoll.utu.fi/arach/checklist_of_spiders_in_Finland.htm pdf

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

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

Osipov D V (2019) [Spiders (Aranei) of the Lapland Nature Reserve] Works of the Lapland State Nature Biosphere Reserve 7: 119-194 pdf

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

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

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

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

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

Vilbaste A (1987) Eesti Ämblikud (Aranei). Annoteeritud nimestik. Estonian spiders (Aranei). An annotated check list. Valgus, Tallinn. 113 pp. & 512 maps on 67 unpag. pages 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 (2026) World Spider Catalog. Version 27. Natural History Museum Bern, online at http://wsc.nmbe.ch (20.5.2026) doi: 10.24436/2 pdf

Updates
30-10-2025 Distribution update Detail
26-06-2025 Distribution update Detail
04-06-2025 Distribution update Detail
13-01-2023 Distribution update Detail
08-01-2018 Image insert