Gnaphosidae  Banks, 1892 / Zelotes  Gistel, 1848   132 species

Zelotes atrocaeruleus (Simon, 1878)

Description

Bulbus with conspicuous apophysis anterior to keel. Vulva with cuticular bar, much shorter than the distance between the ear-shaped structures. Body colour brown-black to black. Opisthosoma with dark brown scuticula.

Body length male: 5.6-8.1 mm
Body length female: 5.9-8.1 mm
Additional information

steppes, dry meadows

Distribution
  Presence
  No data
Global distribution (WSC 2026): Europe, Turkey, Caucasus, Russia (Europe) to Central Asia, China
Phenology
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
 male  female
Figures
Distribution List
Albania   (Vrenozi & Jäger, 2012) ||| Austria   (Thaler & Knoflach, 2004b) ||| Azerbaijan   (Nuruyeva & Zamani, 2025) ||| Bulgaria   (Blagoev et al., 2018) ||| Croatia   (Milosevic, 2002) ||| Czechia   (Růžička & Řezáč, 2022a) ||| France   (Le Peru, 2007) ||| Georgia   (Otto, 2022) ||| Germany   (Blick et al., 2016) ||| Greece   (Bosmans et al., 2009) ||| Hungary   (Szita et al., 2004) ||| Italy   (Isaia et al., 2025) ||| Italy / Sicily   (Isaia et al., 2025) ||| North Macedonia   (Komnenov, 2014) ||| Romania   (Weiss & Petrișor, 1999) ||| Russia, Eastern   (Tuneva & Esyunin, 2003a) ||| Russia, Southern   (Otto, 2022; Ponomarev, 2022) ||| Slovakia   (Gajdoš et al., 1999) ||| Slovenia   (Kostanjšek & Kuntner, 2015) ||| Spain   (Branco et al., 2019) ||| Switzerland   (Hänggi, 1993) ||| Turkey (Asia)   (Danışman et al., 2025a) ||| Ukraine   (Polchaninova et al., 2021) |||
References

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, Baert L, Bosselaers J, De Koninck H, Maelfait J-P, Van Keer J (2009) Spiders of Lesbos (Greece). Nieuwsbrief van de Belgische Arachnologische Vereniging 24(suppl.): 1-70 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

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

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

Hänggi A (1993) Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Spinnenfauna des Kantons Tessin IV - Weitere faunistisch bemerkenswerte Spinnenfunde der Tessiner Montanstufe. Mitteilungen der Schweizerischen Entomologischen Gesellschaft 66: 303-316 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

Jézéquel J F (1962a) Contribution à l'étude des Zelotes femelles (Araneida, Labidognatha, Drassodidae "Gnaphosidae") de la fauna française. Verhandlungen der Deutschen Zoologischen Gesellschaft (Zool. Anz.) 25(Suppl.): 519-532 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

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

Miller F (1967) Studien über die Kopulationsorgane der Spinnengattung Zelotes, Micaria, Robertus und Dipoena nebst Beschreibung einiger neuen oder unvollkommen bekannten Spinnenarten. Přírodovědné práce ústavů Československé Akademie Věd v Brně (N.S.) 1: 251-298 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

Nuruyeva T, Zamani A (2025) An annotated checklist of the spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) of Azerbaijan. Zootaxa 5680: 1-168 pdf

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

Polchaninova N, Gnelitsa V, Terekhova V, Iosypchuk A (2021) New and rare spider species (Arachnida, Araneae) from Ukraine. Zoodiversity 55: 95-112 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

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

Senglet A (2011) New species in the Zelotes tenuis-group and new or little known species in other Zelotes groups (Gnaphosidae, Araneae). Revue Suisse de Zoologie 118: 513-559 pdf

Szita É, Samu F, Szirányi A (2004) Testing the origin of agrobiont spiders: spiders in agricultural and natural grassland habitats of the Körös-Maros National Park, Hungary. In: Samu F, Szinetár C (eds.) European Arachnology 2002. Plant Protection Institute & Berzsenyi College Budapest, pp. 319-326 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

Tuneva T K, Esyunin S L (2003a) A review of the Gnaphosidae fauna of the Urals (Aranei), 3. New species and new records, chiefly from the south Urals. Arthropoda Selecta 11: 223-234 pdf

Vrenozi B, Jäger P (2012) A faunistic study on ground-dwelling spiders (Araneae) in the Tirana district, Albania. Arachnologische Mitteilungen 44: 81-87 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

Updates
19-08-2025 Distribution insert Detail
10-08-2025 Distribution update Detail
08-08-2021 Image insert
01-05-2021 Distribution insert Detail
26-08-2020 Distribution update Detail
22-07-2020 Distribution update Detail
03-12-2013 Image insert