Nesticidae  Simon, 1894 / Nesticus  Thorell, 1869   3 species

Nesticus cellulanus (Clerck, 1757)

Description
Male

Prosoma yellowish, with blackish pattern. Sternum light yellow, spotted black. Legs yellowish, annulated with black. Opisthosoma grey-yellow whitish with blackish spots.

Conductor elongated. 

Body length male: 3.0-5.0 mm
Female

Epigyne broad on anterior margin. 

Body length female: 3.5-6.0 mm
Additional information

Often in caves, in basements, in open land in screes, on walls, sporadically also in forests. Criss-cross web with sticky droplets.

Troglophile species (Mammola et al., 2022)

Distribution
  Presence
  No data
Global distribution (WSC 2026): Europe, Turkey. Introduced to North America
Phenology
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
 male  female
Figures
Distribution List
Albania   (Deltshev et al., 2011b; Blick, 2018) ||| Austria   (Knoflach & Thaler, 1998) ||| Belgium   (Bosmans & Van Keer, 2017) ||| Bosnia and Herzegovina   (Komnenov, 2010) ||| 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) ||| Germany   (Blick et al., 2016) ||| Greece   (Bosmans & Chatzaki, 2005) ||| Hungary   (Samu & Szinetár, 1999) ||| Ireland   (Lavery, 2019) ||| Italy   (Isaia et al., 2025) ||| Kosovo   (Geci & Naumova, 2021b) ||| Latvia   (Cera, 2018) ||| Liechtenstein   (Arnold, 2001) ||| Luxembourg   (Kreuels et al., 2019; Staudt et al., 2013) ||| Montenegro   (Naumova et al., 2019a) ||| Netherlands   (van Helsdingen, 2025a) ||| North Macedonia   (Komnenov, 2014) ||| Northern Ireland   (Lavery, 2019) ||| Norway   (Aakra & Hauge, 2003) ||| Poland   (Rozwałka & Stanska, 2008) ||| Romania   (Weiss & Petrișor, 1999) ||| Russia, Central   (Ponomarev, 2022) ||| Russia, Eastern   (Esyunin & Efimik, 1996a) ||| Russia, Northern   (no references) ||| Serbia   (Ćurčić et al., 2003) ||| Slovakia   (Gajdoš et al., 1999) ||| Slovenia   (Kostanjšek & Kuntner, 2015) ||| Spain   (Branco et al., 2019) ||| Sweden   (Kronestedt, 2001) ||| Switzerland   (Maurer & Hänggi, 1990) ||| Turkey (Asia)   (Danışman et al., 2025a) ||| Turkey (Europe)   (Demircan Aksan & Topçu, 2022c) ||| Ukraine   (Polchaninova & Prokopenko, 2019) ||| United Kingdom   (Lavery, 2019) |||
References

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Almquist S (2006) Swedish Araneae, part 1 – families Atypidae to Hahniidae (Linyphiidae excluded). Insect Systematics & Evolution, Supplement 62(2005): 1-284 pdf

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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 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

Brignoli P M (1971d) Note su ragni cavernicoli italiani (Araneae). Fragmenta Entomologica 7: 121-229 pdf

Bürgis H (1989a) Bemerkenswerte Spinnenfunde vom Heidenberg bei Lautertal-Raidelbach (nordwestlicher Odenwald), 3. Der Spinnenfresser Ero furcata (Villers 1789) (Araneae: Mimetidae). Hessische Faunistische Briefe 9: 2-10 pdf

Bürgis H (1989b) Bemerkenswerte Spinnenfunde vom Heidenberg bei Lautertal-Raidelbach (nordwestlicher Odenwald), 4. Die Höhlenspinne Nesticus cellulanus (Clerck 1757) (Araneae: Nesticidae). Hessische Faunistische Briefe 9: 56-63 pdf

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

Ćurčić B P M, Deltshev C C, Blagoev G A, Ćurčić S B, Tomić V T (2003) On the diversity of some spiders (Aranea: Arachnida) from Serbia. Archives of Biological Sciences Belgrade 55: 23-31 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

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

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 (2021b) A preliminary checklist of the spiders of Kosovo (Arachnida: Araneae). Ecologia Balkanica, Special Edition 4: 11-28 pdf

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

Isaia M, Lana E, Paschetta M, Pantini P, Schönhofer A L, Christian E, Badino G (2011) Aracnidi sotterranei delle Alpi Occidentali italiane (Arachnida: Araneae, Opiliones, Palpigradi, Pseudoscorpiones)/ Subterranean Arachnids of the Western Italian Alps (Arachnida: Araneae, Opiliones, Palpigradi, Pseudoscorpiones). Monografie Del Museo Regionale di Scienze Naturali Torino 47: 1-325 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

Jäger P (1998a) Weitere Funde von Nesticus eremita (Araneae: Nesticidae) in Süddeutschland mit Angaben zur Taxonomie im Vergleich zu N. cellulanus. Arachnologische Mitteilungen 15: 13-20 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 (2010) Checklist of spiders (Araneae) of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Uzizaž i Biospeld 5(2009): 52-69 pdf

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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

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Løvbrekke H (unpubl.)

Mammola S, Pavlek M, Huber B A, Isaia M, Ballarin F, Tolve M, Čupić I, Hesselberg T, Lunghi E, Mouron S, Graco-Roza C, Cardoso P (2022) A trait database and updated checklist for European subterranean spiders. Scientific Data 9(236): 1-13 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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