Theridiidae  Sundevall, 1833 / Parasteatoda  Archer, 1946   4 species

Parasteatoda lunata (Clerck, 1757)

Description
Male

Conductor slightly twisted around its longitudinal axis. Prosoma red-brown, almost black. Sternum and chelicerae red-brown to almost black. Legs red or yellowish, annulated with black. Opisthosoma colourful, rarely completely black. Pattern consisting of black, red, yellow and white elements.

Body length male: 2.7-5.0 mm
Female

Epigyne with distinct epigynal groove, anterior margin with small tip pointing toward posterior end. Vulva with rectangularly bent entrance duct. 

Body length female: 2.7-5.6 mm
Additional information

mostly on trunks or branches

Distribution
  Presence
  No data
Global distribution (WSC 2026): Europe, Tunisia, Turkey, Israel, Caucasus, Russia (Europe to Far East), Iran. Introduced to South Africa
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.

Albania   (Kůrka et al., 2020) ||| Andorra   (Branco et al., 2019) ||| Austria   (Knoflach & Thaler, 1998) ||| Azerbaijan   (Otto, 2022) ||| Belarus   (Ivanov, 2013) ||| Belgium   (Bosmans & Van Keer, 2017) ||| Bulgaria   (Blagoev et al., 2018) ||| Croatia   (Milosevic, 2002) ||| Czechia   (Růžička & Řezáč, 2022a) ||| Denmark   (Scharff & Gudik-Sørensen, 2006) ||| Estonia   (Vilbaste, 1987) ||| Finland   (Koponen et al., 2016) ||| France   (Le Peru, 2007) ||| France / Corsica   (Le Peru, 2007) ||| Georgia   (Otto, 2022) ||| Germany   (Blick et al., 2016) ||| Greece   (Lecigne, 2013) ||| Greece / Crete   (Bosmans et al., 2013) ||| Hungary   (Samu & Szinetár, 1999) ||| Ireland   (Lavery, 2019) ||| Italy   (Isaia et al., 2025) ||| Italy / Sardinia   (Isaia et al., 2025) ||| Italy / Sicily   (Isaia et al., 2025) ||| Kosovo   (Geci et al., 2023) ||| Latvia   (Cera, 2018) ||| Liechtenstein   (Arnold, 2001) ||| Lithuania   (Biteniekytė & Rėlys, 2012) ||| Luxembourg   (Kreuels et al., 2019; Staudt et al., 2013) ||| Moldova   (Vasiliev & Mikhailov, 2023) ||| Montenegro   (Naumova et al., 2019a) ||| Netherlands   (van Helsdingen, 2025a) ||| North Macedonia   (Komnenov, 2017) ||| Norway   (Aakra & Hauge, 2003) ||| Poland   (Rozwałka & Stanska, 2008) ||| Portugal   (Branco et al., 2019) ||| Romania   (Weiss & Petrișor, 1999) ||| Russia, Central   (Ponomarev, 2022) ||| Russia, Eastern   (Esyunin & Efimik, 1996a) ||| Russia, Southern   (Otto, 2022; Ponomarev, 2022) ||| Russia, Western   (no references) ||| Serbia   (Grbić et al., 2021) ||| Slovakia   (Gajdoš et al., 1999) ||| Slovenia   (Kostanjšek & Kuntner, 2015) ||| Spain   (Branco et al., 2019) ||| Sweden   (Kronestedt, 2001) ||| Switzerland   (Maurer & Hänggi, 1990) ||| Tunisia   (Kmira et al., 2025) ||| Turkey (Asia)   (Danışman et al., 2025a) ||| Turkey (Europe)   (van Helsdingen, 2013; Demircan Aksan & Topçu, 2022c) ||| Ukraine   (Polchaninova & Prokopenko, 2019) ||| 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

Almquist S (2006) Swedish Araneae, part 1 – families Atypidae to Hahniidae (Linyphiidae excluded). Insect Systematics & Evolution, Supplement 62(2005): 1-284 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 J, Russell-Smith A, Kronestedt T, Alderweireldt M, Bosselaers J, De Koninck H (2013) Spiders of Crete (Araneae). A catalogue of all currently known species from the Greek island of Crete. Nieuwsbrief van de Belgische Arachnologische Vereniging 28 (Suppl. 1): 1-147 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

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

Demircan Aksan N, Topçu A (2022c) A preliminary checklist of the spider fauna of European Türkiye. Serket 19: 39-56 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.

Geci D, Naumova M, Ibrahimi H, Grapci-Kotori L, Gashi A, Bilalli A, Musliu M (2023) Contribution to spider fauna (Arachnida: Araneae) from Bjeshkët e Nemuna mountains (Kosovo). Natura Croatica 32: 525-547 pdf

Grbić G, Hänggi A, Krnjajić S (2021) Spiders (Araneae) of Subotica Sandland (Serbia): additional arguments in environmental protection. Acta Zoologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 67: 15-61 pdf

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

Helsdingen P J van (2013) A quick scan of the spider fauna of the European part of Turkey. Nieuwsbrief SPINED 33: 29-38 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

Kmira G, Nasri-Ammar, Petillon J, Bosmans R (2025) Catalog of the spiders of Tunisia (Arachnida: Araneae). Zootaxa 5641: 1-95 pdf

Knoflach B (1991) Achaearanea tabulata Levi, eine für Österreich neue Kugelspinne (Arachnida, Aranei: Theridiidae). Berichte des Naturwissenschaftlich-Medizinischen Vereins in Innsbruck 78: 59-64 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 (2017) New data on spider fauna (Araneae) of Shar Mountain, north-western Macedonia. Proceedings of the 5th Congress of the Ecologists of Macedonia, with international participation (Ohrid, 19th-22nd October 2016). Special issues of the Macedonian Ecological Society 13: 44-61 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

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

Kůrka A, Naumova M, Indzhov S, Deltshev C (2020) New faunistic and taxonomic data on the spider fauna of Albania (Arachnida: Araneae). Arachnologische Mitteilungen 59: 8-21 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

Lecigne S (2013) Contribution à l’inventaire aranéologique de Corfou (Grèce) (Arachnida, Araneae). Nieuwsbrief van de Belgische Arachnologische Vereniging 28: 177-191 pdf

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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

Naumova M, Lazarov S, Deltshev C (2019a) Faunistic diversity of the spiders in Montenegro (Arachnida: Araneae). Ecologica Montenegrina 22: 50-89 pdf

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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

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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

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Updates
10-03-2026 Image insert
29-10-2025 Distribution update Detail
16-07-2025 Distribution update Detail
31-01-2024 Distribution insert Detail
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03-02-2021 Image insert
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