Amaurobiidae  Thorell, 1869 / Amaurobius  C. L. Koch, 1837   38 species

Amaurobius similis  (Blackwall, 1861)

Description

Dorsal tibial apophysis with straightly truncated lateral process. Epigyne with large, trapezoid groove. Prosoma yellowish-brown, sides and eye region darkened. Sternum yellowish. Chelicerae brown. Legs red-brown, vaguely annulated. Opisthosoma yellowish grey or reddish, with 4 black spots dorsally in anterior part, often merged.

Comparison of the palpal tibia of A. erberi, A. similis und A. fenestralis by J.-P. Taberlet: PDF

Body length male: 6.5-8 mm
Body length female: 9-12 mm
Additional information

Under stones, in crevices, under bark and in basements.

This species can bite humans when accidently squeezing them. The bite leads in one case to numbness in the arm, disappearing after one hour (J. Wolff pers. comm.).

Frequency: Rare in Central Europe

Distribution
  Presence
  No data
Global distribution (WSC 2024): Europe, Caucasus. Introduced to North America
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.

Andorra   (Branco et al., 2019) ||| Azerbaijan   (Otto, 2022) ||| Belgium   (Bosmans & Van Keer, 2017) ||| Bulgaria   (Blagoev et al., 2018) ||| Denmark   (no references) ||| Faroe Islands   (Lissner et al., 2016b) ||| France   (no references) ||| Georgia   (Otto, 2022; Seropian et al., 2023a) ||| Germany   (no references) ||| Ireland   (Lavery, 2019) ||| Italy   (Pantini & Isaia, 2019) ||| Italy / Sicily   (Pantini & Isaia, 2019) ||| Luxembourg   (Kreuels et al., 2019) ||| Moldova   (Vasiliev & Mikhailov, 2023) ||| Netherlands   (no references) ||| Northern Ireland   (Lavery, 2019) ||| Norway   (Aakra & Hauge, 2003) ||| Poland   (Rozwałka & Stanska, 2008) ||| Romania   (no references) ||| Spain   (Branco et al., 2019) ||| Sweden   (Kronestedt, 2001) ||| Switzerland   (no references) ||| Ukraine   (Hirna et al., 2016) ||| United Kingdom   (Lavery, 2019) |||
References

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

Brændegaard J (1966) Edderkopper: Eller Spindlere I Danmarks Fauna 72: 1-224 pdf

Dresco E (1977) Recherches sur les Amaurobius (Araneae, Amaurobiidae) et description de A. tessinensis sp. nov. du Tessin (Suisse). Revue Suisse de Zoologie 84: 873-882 pdf

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

Hirna A, Gnelitsa V, Zhukovets E (2016) A checklist of the spiders (Araneae) of the Chornohora Mountain massif (Ukrainian Carpathians). Arachnologische Mitteilungen 51: 16-38 pdf

Kreuels M, Staudt A, Christian S (2019) Die Spinnenfauna von Luxemburg – eine Zusammenstellung der Nachweise aus den Jahren 1906-2018 (Arachnida: Araneae). Bulletin de la Société des naturalistes luxembourgeois 121: 203-230 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

Lissner J, Jensen J-K, Hansen L J, Simonsen W, Kelduni R, Nissen K (2016b) An updated checklist of spiders (Araneae) of the Faroe Islands. Norwegian Journal of Entomology 63: 197-240 pdf

Locket G H, Millidge A F (1951) British spiders. Vol. I. Ray Society, London, 310 pp. pdf

Løvbrekke H (unpubl.)

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

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

Seropian A, Otto S, Bulbulashvili N (2023a) Picking pearls from the Silk Road: insights into the spider (Arthropoda, Araneae) diversity in Georgia from the CaBOL project. Part I. Caucasiana 2: 143-159 pdf

Staudt A, Weber D, Nährig D (2013) Webspinnen (Arachnida,  Araneae) aus Höhlen des Großherzogtums Luxemburg. Ferrantia 69: 115-157 pdf

Taberlet J-P (unpubl.)

Vasiliev A I, Mikhailov K G (2023) Annotated checklist of spiders (Araneae) of the Republic of Moldova. Invertebrate Zoology 20: 307-342 pdf

Wiehle H (1953) Spinnentiere oder Arachnoidea (Araneae), IX. Orthognatha-Cribellata-Haplogynae, Entelegynae (Pholcidae, Zodariidae, Oxyopidae, Mimetidae, Nesticidae). Die Tierwelt Deutschlands 42: 1-150 pdf

WSC (2024) World Spider Catalog. Version 25.0. Natural History Museum Bern, online at http://wsc.nmbe.ch (22.01.2024) doi: 10.24436/2 pdf

Updates
28-04-2024 Image insert
28-04-2024 Distribution update Detail
17-12-2022 Distribution update Detail
08-06-2021 Image insert
03-02-2021 Image insert
13-10-2017 Distribution update Detail
28-04-2013 Distribution update Detail
09-04-2013 Distribution update Detail