Gnaphosidae  Banks, 1892 / Scotophaeus  Simon, 1893   21 species

Scotophaeus quadripunctatus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Description

Tibial apophysis ± uniformly tapering off towards the tip. Epigyne with roundish epigynal groove, slightly wider than long. Prosoma light brown to dark red-brown. Opisthosoma light brown to dark red-brown.

Body length male: 7.5-9.4 mm
Body length female: 9.2-16.1 mm
Additional information

Mainly in buildings, caves, rarely in natural habitats under bark.

Distribution
  Presence
  Not established
  No data
Distribution comment: Turkey: deleted (misident. per Indzhov in litt., probably Echemus sp.)
Global distribution (WSC 2026): Europe, Russia (Caucasus)
Phenology
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
 male  female
Figures
Distribution List
Austria   (Thaler & Knoflach, 2004b) ||| Belarus   (Ivanov, 2013) ||| Belgium   (Bosmans & Van Keer, 2017) ||| Bulgaria   (Blagoev et al., 2018) ||| Croatia   (Milosevic, 2002) ||| Czechia   (Růžička & Řezáč, 2022a) ||| Estonia   (Vilbaste, 1987) ||| Finland   (Zamani & Koponen, 2025) ||| France   (Le Peru, 2007) ||| Germany   (Blick et al., 2016) ||| Hungary   (Samu & Szinetár, 1999) ||| Italy   (Isaia et al., 2025) ||| Latvia   (Cera, 2018) ||| Liechtenstein   (Arnold, 2001) ||| Lithuania  Removed (Biteniekytė & Rėlys, 2012) ||| Moldova   (Vasiliev & Mikhailov, 2023) ||| Netherlands   (van Helsdingen, 2025a) ||| Norway   (Aakra & Hauge, 2003) ||| Poland   (Rozwałka & Stanska, 2008) ||| Romania   (Weiss & Petrișor, 1999) ||| Russia, Central   (Ponomarev, 2022) ||| Russia, Eastern   (Esyunin & Efimik, 1996a) ||| Russia, Southern   (Otto, 2022; Ponomarev, 2022) ||| Russia, Western   (no references) ||| Slovakia   (Gajdoš et al., 1999) ||| Sweden   (Kronestedt, 2001) ||| Switzerland   (Maurer & Hänggi, 1990) ||| Turkey (Asia)  Removed (Akpınar et al., 2016) ||| Ukraine   (Polchaninova & Prokopenko, 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

Akpınar A, Varol M İ, El-Hennawy H K (2016) New records to the spider fauna of Turkey (Araneae: Eutichuridae, Gnaphosidae). Serket 15: 41-43 pdf

Almquist S (2007) Swedish Araneae, part 2 – families Dictynidae to Salticidae. Insect Systematics & Evolution, Supplement 63(2006): 285-601 pdf

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

Biteniekytė M, Rėlys V (2012) The checklist of Lithuanian spiders (Arachnida: Araneae). Biologija 57: 148-158 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

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

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

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

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

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

Grimm U (1985) Die Gnaphosidae Mitteleuropas (Arachnida, Araneae). Abhandlungen des Naturwissenschaftlichen Vereins in Hamburg (NF) 26: 1-318 pdf

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

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

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

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

Løvbrekke H (unpubl.)

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

Morka G 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.

Platnick N I, Shadab M U (1977) A revision of the spider genera Herpyllus and Scotophaeus (Araneae, Gnaphosidae) in North America. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 159: 1-44 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

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

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

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

Thaler K, Knoflach B (2004b) Zur Faunistik der Spinnen (Araneae) von Österreich: Gnaphosidae, Thomisidae (Dionycha pro parte). Linzer Biologische Beiträge 36: 417-484 pdf

Tullgren A (1946) Svensk spindelfauna. 3. Egentiliga spinddlar. Araneae Fam 5-7. Clubionidae, Zoridae och Gnaphosidae. Stockholm (Entomol Fören.): 141 pp. pdf

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

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

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

Updates
17-12-2025 Image insert
30-05-2025 Distribution update Detail
30-05-2025 Distribution insert Detail
27-01-2025 Image insert
10-01-2024 Distribution update Detail
20-12-2023 Distribution update Detail
21-11-2022 Distribution insert Detail
17-11-2022 Image insert
06-10-2022 Image insert
01-10-2022 Gallery image insert
27-07-2020 Image insert
27-11-2018 Distribution update Detail
14-06-2016 Distribution update Detail