Lycosidae  Sundevall, 1833 / Alopecosa  Simon, 1885   57 species

Alopecosa cursor  (Hahn, 1831)

Description

Epigyne with pentagonal median part. Prosoma dark brown, median longitudinal stripe reddish, lateral longitudinal stripes broken into 3-4 vague spots. Prosoma length female: 2.8-3.5 mm, prosoma length male: 2.7-3.4 mm. Legs reddish. Femur III-IV dorsally spotted. Opisthosoma grey-brown, ventrally reddish yellow.

Body length male: 7 mm
Body length female: 9 mm
Additional information

In moss and herbaceous vegetation of open, dry areas, from lowland up to and above 1000 m.

A. cursor and A. pentheri occur sympatrically in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus, faunistic records of these species are often mixed up due to indistinguishable females (Marusik et al. 2018).

Distribution
  Presence
  No data
Global distribution (WSC 2025): Europe, Turkey, Caucasus, Russia (Europe to South Siberia), Iran, Central Asia, China
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   (Vrenozi & Jäger, 2012) ||| Austria   (Buchar & Thaler, 1997) ||| 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) ||| Georgia   (Otto, 2022) ||| Germany   (Blick et al., 2016) ||| Greece   (Bosmans & Chatzaki, 2005) ||| Hungary   (Samu & Szinetár, 1999) ||| Italy   (Pantini & Isaia, 2019) ||| Italy / Sicily   (Pantini & Isaia, 2019) ||| Kosovo   (Geci et al., 2025) ||| Latvia   (Cera, 2018) ||| Lithuania   (Biteniekytė & Rėlys, 2012) ||| Moldova   (Vasiliev & Mikhailov, 2023) ||| Netherlands   (van Helsdingen, 2024a) ||| North Macedonia   (Blagoev, 2002) ||| Poland   (Rozwałka & Stanska, 2008) ||| Romania   (Weiss & Petrișor, 1999) ||| Russia, Central   (Ponomarev, 2022) ||| Russia, Eastern   (Esyunin & Efimik, 1996a) ||| Russia, Northern   (Esyunin & Efimik, 1996a) ||| Russia, Southern   (Otto, 2022; Ponomarev, 2022) ||| Serbia   (Deltshev et al., 2003b) ||| Slovakia   (Gajdoš et al., 1999) ||| Slovenia   (Kostanjšek & Kuntner, 2015) ||| Spain   (Branco et al., 2019) ||| Sweden   (Kronestedt, 2001) ||| Turkey (Asia)   (Danışman et al., 2024a) ||| Ukraine   (Polchaninova & Prokopenko, 2019) |||
References

Azheganova N S (1968) Kratkii opredelitel' paukov (Aranei) lesnoi i lesostepnoi zony SSSR. Akademia Nauk SSSR, 149pp. pdf

Biteniekytė M, Rėlys V (2012) The checklist of Lithuanian spiders (Arachnida: Araneae). Biologija 57: 148-158 pdf

Blagoev G (2002) Check list of Macedonian spiders (Araneae). Acta Zoologica Bulgarica 54: 9-34 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, 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

Buchar J, Thaler K (1997) Die Wolfspinnen von Österreich 4 (Schluß): Gattung Pardosa max. p. (Arachnida, Araneae: Lycosidae) - Faunistisch-tiergeographische Übersicht. Carinthia II 187/107: 515-539 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 (2024a) The checklist of the spiders of Turkey. Version 2024 [last updated 01 January 2024], online at http://www.spidersofturkey.info 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.

Esyunin S L, Efimik V E (1996a) Catalogue of the spiders (Arachnida, Aranei) of the Urals. KMK Scientific Press, Moscow, 228 pp. pdf

Fuhn I E, Niculescu-Burlacu F (1971) Fam. Lycosidae. Fauna Republicii Socialiste România (Arachnida) 5 (3): 1-253 pdf

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

Geci, D., Ibrahimi, H., Bilalli, A. & Musliu, M (2025) New records of spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) from the Western Balkans. Journal of Insect Biodiversity and Systematics 11: 269-289 pdf

Helsdingen P J van (2024a) Catalogus van de Nederlandse spinnen. Versie 2024.3. 252 pp. pdf

Ivanov V V (2013) The checklist of Belarusian spiders (Arachnida, Araneae). Zoology and Ecology 4: 293-311 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

Kronestedt T (2001) Checklist of Spiders (Araneae) in Sweden [Preliminary version February 2001] pdf

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

Lissner J, Scharff N (2019) Danish Spiders. Formerly online at http://www.danmarks-edderkopper.dk pdf

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

Lugetti G, Tongiorgi P (1969) Ricerche sul genere Alopecosa Simon (Araneae-Lycosidae). Atti della Società Toscana di Scienze Naturali B76: 1-100 pdf

Løvbrekke H (unpubl.)

Marusik Y M, Nadolny A A, Koponen S (2018) A survey of the Alopecosa cursor species group (Aranei: Lycosidae) from Asia. Arthropoda Selecta 27: 348-362 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

Noflatscher M-T (1993) Beiträge zur Spinnenfauna Südtirols - IV: Epigäische Spinnen am Vinschgauer Sonnenberg. Berichte des Naturwissenschaftlich-Medizinischen Vereins in Innsbruck 80: 273-294 pdf

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

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

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

Roberts M J (1998) Spinnengids. Tirion, Baarn, Netherlands, 397 pp. pdf

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

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

Samu F, Szinetár C (1999) Bibliographic check list of the Hungarian spider fauna. Bulletin of the British Arachnological Society 11: 161-184 pdf

Scharff N, Gudik-Sørensen O (2006) Katalog over Danmarks edderkopper (Araneae). Catalogue of the spiders of Denmark (Araneae). Entomologiske Meddelelser 74: 3-71 pdf

Vasiliev A I, Mikhailov K G (2023) Annotated checklist of spiders (Araneae) of the Republic of Moldova. Invertebrate Zoology 20: 307-342 pdf

Vilbaste A (1987) Eesti Ämblikud (Aranei). Annoteeritud nimestik. Estonian spiders (Aranei). An annotated check list. Valgus, Tallinn. 113 pp. & 512 maps on 67 unpag. pages 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

Wiebes J T (1959) The Lycosidae and Pisauridae (Araneae) of the Netherlands. Zoologische Verhandelingen 42: 1-78 pdf

WSC (2025) World Spider Catalog. Version 26. Natural History Museum Bern, online at http://wsc.nmbe.ch (28.2.2025) doi: 10.24436/2 pdf

Zamani A, Nadolny A A, Esyunin S L, Marusik Y M (2022a) New data on the spider fauna of Iran (Arachnida: Araneae), part IX. Arachnology 19: 358-384 pdf

Updates
17-04-2025 Distribution update Detail
17-04-2025 Distribution insert Detail
07-07-2022 Image insert
24-03-2020 Image insert
15-01-2019 Image insert
24-01-2017 Distribution update Detail
15-04-2013 Distribution update Detail