Theridiidae  Sundevall, 1833 / Steatoda  Sundevall, 1833   19 species

Steatoda nobilis  (Thorell, 1875)

Description

Epigynal groove with broad septum. Prosoma dark red-brown, with darker radial pattern. Legs light yellow-brown. Tibia distally darker than remaining leg. Opisthosoma female: purple-brown with whitish stripe. Male: with dark purple folium pattern, beige and white, 4 larger reddish impressed spots.

Body length male: 7.8-10.6 mm
Body length female: 9.5-14.0 mm
Additional information

On fences, stone walls, tree trunks, in hedges, on buildings, also inside buildings in the north. Originally distributed on Canary Islands and Madeira, apparently distributed with banana transports.

This species of Macaronesian origin is not native to Europe (alien species). It had been introduced to Europe at least once and did establish.

Distribution
  Presence
  Not established
  No data
Distribution comment: Morocco: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/37646364
Global distribution (WSC 2024): Macaronesia. Introduced to USA, Chile, Ecuador, Colombia, Europe, Turkey, Iran
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.

Algeria   (Benhacene et al., 2023) ||| Belgium   (Van Keer, 2011; Bosmans & Van Keer, 2017) ||| Czechia   (Rückl, 2019; Řezáč et al., 2021) ||| France   (no references) ||| France / Corsica   (no references) ||| Germany   (Bauer et al., 2019a; Reiser, 2013) ||| Ireland   (Cawley, 2001; Lavery, 2019) ||| Italy   (Pantini & Isaia, 2019) ||| Italy / Sardinia   (Pantini & Isaia, 2019) ||| Morocco   (Bosmans, unpubl.) ||| Netherlands   (van Helsdingen, 2015b) ||| Northern Ireland   (Dugon et al., 2017; Lavery, 2019) ||| Portugal   (Branco et al., 2019) ||| Spain   (Branco et al., 2019) ||| Spain / Balearic Islands   (Branco et al., 2019; Barrientos & Febrer, 2020) ||| Switzerland   (Loria, 2023) ||| Turkey (Asia)   (Danışman et al., 2024) ||| United Kingdom   (Snazell & Jones, 1993; Lavery, 2019) |||
References

Barrientos J A, Febrer J B (2020) Arañas (Arachnida, Araneae) de Menorca (Islas Baleares, España). 3: nuevos datos. Revista Ibérica de Aracnología 36: 69-78 pdf

Bauer T, Feldmeier S, Krehenwinkel H, Wieczorrek C, Reiser N, Breitling R (2019a) Steatoda nobilis, a falsewidow on the rise: a synthesis of past and current distribution trends. NeoBiota 42: 19-43 pdf

Benhacene R, Adjami A, Hadjeb A, Kermiche K, Ouakid M L (2023) Bibliographic checklist of the Algerian spider fauna (Araneae). Zootaxa 5352: 301-357 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

Bosmans R. (unpubl.) Provisional list of spiders of North Africa. Database excerpt Aug. 2019

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

Cawley M (2001) Distribution records for uncommon spiders (Araneae) including five species new to Ireland. Bulletin of the Irish Biogeographical Society 25: 135-143 pdf

Crespo L, Cardoso P, Silva I, Menezes D (2009a) Spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) from the Selvagens Islands (Portugal): additions to the current knowledge. Boletín de la Sociedad Entomologica Aragonesa 45: 343-348 pdf

Danışman T, Kunt K B, Özkütük R S, Coşar İ (2024) The checklist of the spiders of Turkey. Version 2024 [last updated 01 January 2024], online at http://www.spidersofturkey.info pdf

Dugon M M, Dunbar J P, Afoullouss S, Schulte J, McEvoy A, English M J, Hogan R, Ennis C, Sulpice R (2017) Occurrence, reproductive rate and identification of the non-native Noble false widow spider Steatoda nobilis (Thorell, 1875) in Ireland. Biology and Environment: Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 117B: 77-89 pdf

Helsdingen P J van (2015b) Binnenwandelende exoten. Nieuwsbrief SPINED 35: 33-34 pdf

Kulczycki A, Legittimo C M, Simeon E, Di Pompeo P (2012) New records of Steatoda nobilis (Thorell, 1875) (Araneae, Theridiidae), an introduced species on the Italian mainland and in Sardinia. Bulletin of the British Arachnological Society 15: 269-272 pdf

Lavery A (2019) A revised checklist of the spiders of Great Britain and Ireland. Arachnology 18: 196-212 pdf

Loria P (2023) Cinq premières et une deuxième mentions d’araignées pour la Suisse (Araneae). Entomo Helvetica 16: 123-136 pdf

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

Reiser N (2013) Einschleppung und Einwanderung von Spinnentieren (Araneae; Opiliones) in Deutschland. BSc Thesis, University of Applied Studies Neubrandenburg, Germany (pdf) pdf

Řezáč M, Růžička V, Hula V, Dolanský J, Machač O, Roušar A (2021) Spiders newly observed in Czechia in recent years – overlooked or invasive species? BioInvasions Records 10: 555-566 pdf

Rückl K (2019) Steatoda nobilis – černý pasažér přistižen v ČR [Steatoda nobilis – a black passenger caught in the Czech Republic]. Pavouk 47: 4 pdf

Snazell R, Jones D (1993) The theridiid spider Steatoda nobilis (Thorell, 1875) in Britain. Bulletin of the British Arachnological Society 9: 164-167 pdf

Taberlet J-P (unpubl.)

Van Keer K (2011) An update on the verified reports of imported spiders (Araneae) from Belgium. Nieuwsbrief van de Belgische Arachnologische Vereniging 25(3, 2010): 210-214 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
27-07-2023 Distribution update Detail
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22-12-2015 Distribution update Detail
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