Araneidae  Clerck, 1757 / Araneus  Clerck, 1757   24 species

Araneus grossus (C. L. Koch, 1844)

Description

Prosoma brown, with brighter margin. Eye region yellowish, densely provided with bright hairs. Sternum yellowish-brown, with dark margin. Chelicerae brown. Legs brown, vaguely annulated. Opisthosoma highly bulged, light brown, with dark brown pattern, tubercles yellowish.

Body length male: 11 mm
Body length female: 15-25 mm
Additional information

In herbaceous layer and on bushes at warm, sunny locations

Distribution
  Presence
  Not established
  No data
Global distribution (WSC 2026): Europe to Central Asia
Figures
Distribution List
Albania   (Deltshev et al., 2011b; Blick, 2018) ||| Armenia   (Zarikian et al., 2023a) ||| Austria   (Thaler & Knoflach, 2003) ||| Azerbaijan   (Otto, 2022) ||| Bulgaria   (Blagoev et al., 2018) ||| Croatia   (Milosevic, 2002) ||| Cyprus   (Bosmans et al., 2019c) ||| France   (Le Peru, 2007) ||| Georgia   (Otto, 2022) ||| Germany   (Blick et al., 2016) ||| Greece   (Bosmans & Chatzaki, 2005) ||| Greece / Crete   (Bosmans & Chatzaki, 2005) ||| Hungary   (Samu & Szinetár, 1999) ||| Italy   (Isaia et al., 2025) ||| Kosovo   (Ibrahimi et al., 2024) ||| North Macedonia   (Komnenov, 2014) ||| Portugal   (Branco et al., 2019) ||| Romania   (Weiss & Petrișor, 1999) ||| Russia, Eastern   (no references) ||| Russia, Southern   (Otto, 2022; Ponomarev, 2022) ||| Serbia   (Deltshev et al., 2003b) ||| Slovakia   (Gajdoš et al., 1999) ||| Spain   (Branco et al., 2019) ||| Ukraine   (Kovblyuk et al., 2016) |||
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 (2018) A small collection of spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) from the River Vjosa, Albania – with an updated spider checklist of Albania. Acta ZooBot Austria 155: 213-232 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, Chatzaki M (2005) A catalogue of the spiders of Greece – a critical review of all spider species cited from Greece with their localities. Nieuwsbrief van de Belgische arachnologische Vereniging 20 (2, suppl.): 1-124 pdf

Bosmans R, Van Keer J, Russell-Smith A, Hadjiconstantis M, Komnenov M, Bosselaers J, Huber S, McCowan D, Snazell R, Decae A, Zoumides C, Kielhorn K-H, Oger P (2019c) Spiders of Cyprus (Araneae). A catalogue of all currently known species from Cyprus. Newsletter of the Belgian Arachnological Society 34, Suppl. 1: 1-173 pdf

Branco V V, Morano E, Cardoso P (2019) An update to the Iberian spider checklist (Araneae). Zootaxa 4614: 201-254 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.

Deltshev C, Vrenozi B, Blagoev G, Lazarov S (2011b) Spiders of Albania – faunistic and zoogeographical review (Arachnida: Araneae). Acta Zoologica Bulgarica 63: 125-144 pdf

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

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

Ibrahimi K, Islami B, Kastrati B, Geci D, Bilalli A, Ibrahimi H (2024) New findings and an updated checklist of Araneidae (Arachnida: Araneae) from Kosovo. Journal of Insect Biodiversity and Systematics 10: 547-555 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

Komnenov M (2014) Spider fauna of the Osogovo Mt. Range, Northeastern Macedonia. Fauna Balkana 2: 1-267 pdf

Kovblyuk M M, Gnelitsa V A, Nadolny A A, Kastrygina Z A, Kukushkin, O V (2016) Spiders (Arachnida: Aranei) of the Karadag Nature Reserve (Crimea). Ekosystemy 3(33): 3-288 pdf

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

Loksa I (1972) Pokok II-Araneae II. Fauna Hungariae 109: 1-112 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

Morano E, Mora-Rubio C (2021) Presencia de Araneus grossus (C. L. Koch, 1844) (Araneae: Araneidae) en Extremadura (España). Revista Ibérica de Aracnología 39: 121-124 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

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 (1991b) Pachygnatha terilis n.sp. aus den Südalpen, mit Bemerkungen zu einigen Araneidae der Alpenländer (Arachnida: Aranei, Tetragnathidae, Araneidae). Berichte des Naturwissenschaftlich-Medizinischen Vereins in Innsbruck 78: 47-57 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

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 (13.2.2026) doi: 10.24436/2 pdf

Zarikian N, Dilbaryan K, Khachatryan A, Harutyunova L (2023a) Species composition and diversity of spider (Arachnida: Araneae) in the northern forests of Armenia. Biodiversity 24: 66-75 pdf

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