Araneae

Spiders are air-breathing arthropods that have eight limbs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all orders of organisms. Spiders are found worldwide on every continent except Antarctica, and have become established in nearly every land habitat. As of January 2026, 53,680 spider species in 139 families have been recorded by taxonomists. However, there has been debate among scientists about how families should be classified, with over 20 different classifications proposed since 1900.

Araneae

Michael Gäbler · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
spiderPBDB
Sits inside
SerikodiastidaPBDB
Life habit
solitaryPBDB, for Arachnida
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Arachnida
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Arachnida

Time the record covers

At least 316 million years on record.

The record covers at least 316.9 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 318.7 Mya to 0 Mya.

Carboniferous — about 20 of 2828 occurrencesPermian — about 2 of 2828 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 0 of 2828 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 4 of 2828 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 5 of 2828 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 1 of 2828 occurrencesMiddle Jurassic — about 5 of 2828 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 12 of 2828 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 78 of 2828 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 540 of 2828 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 1 of 2828 occurrencesEocene — about 1633 of 2828 occurrencesOligocene — about 37 of 2828 occurrencesMiocene — about 403 of 2828 occurrencesPliocene — about 10 of 2828 occurrencesPleistocene — about 7 of 2828 occurrences325–314 Mya — about 2 occurrences314–303 Mya — about 15 occurrences303–293 Mya — about 3 occurrences293–282 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences282–271 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences271–260 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences249–238 Mya — about 4 occurrences238–228 Mya — about 1 occurrence228–217 Mya — about 1 occurrence217–206 Mya — about 2 occurrences206–195 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences184–173 Mya — about 1 occurrence173–163 Mya — about 4 occurrences163–152 Mya — about 12 occurrences152–141 Mya — about 1 occurrence141–130 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences130–119 Mya — about 28 occurrences119–108 Mya — about 26 occurrences108–98 Mya — about 251 occurrences98–87 Mya — about 291 occurrences87–76 Mya — about 17 occurrences76–65 Mya — about 5 occurrences65–54 Mya — about 4 occurrences54–43 Mya — about 22 occurrences43–33 Mya — about 1610 occurrences33–22 Mya — about 53 occurrences22–11 Mya — about 382 occurrences11–0 Mya — about 90 occurrences316.9 Mya11.7 ka325 Mya0 Mya

2,828 occurrences of Araneae on record, most of them in the Eocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

2,828 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

66 formations

Florissant — 38.92°N, 105.28°WShanwang — 36.55°N, 118.71°ENiveau du gypse d'Aix — 43.52°N, 5.45°EDaohugou — 41.32°N, 119.24°ERaritan — 40.47°N, 74.32°WUpper Freshwater-Molasse — 47.67°N, 8.93°ECrato — 7.13°S, 39.70°WYixian — 41.19°N, 119.21°EYixian — 41.62°N, 120.83°EKheta — 71.63°N, 100.97°EKheta — 70.93°N, 98.64°EKheta — 72.00°N, 103.00°EKheta — 72.03°N, 101.33°EKheta — 71.31°N, 99.56°EGreen River — 39.23°N, 108.22°WGreen River — 41.56°N, 109.55°WGreen River — 39.72°N, 108.14°WGreen River — 39.64°N, 108.76°WJinju — 35.08°N, 128.05°EEscucha — 40.80°N, 0.81°WEscucha — 42.64°N, 2.72°WKladno — 50.10°N, 13.72°EKladno — 49.71°N, 13.21°EKladno — 49.90°N, 13.62°EBouldnor — 50.74°N, 1.36°WMazantic Shale — 17.15°N, 92.70°WBarstow — 34.95°N, 116.83°WBarstow — 34.94°N, 116.83°WArgiles d'lignite du Soissonnais — 49.33°N, 2.66°ERandeck Maar — 48.57°N, 9.53°EKabaw — 21.68°N, 94.08°EGrès à Voltzia — 48.83°N, 7.24°EGrès à Voltzia — 48.72°N, 7.17°Ela Pedrera de Rubies — 42.01°N, 0.96°ECarbondale — 41.34°N, 88.39°WDzun-Bain — 45.45°N, 99.13°EForemost — 49.83°N, 111.70°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Araneae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 42 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 2,535 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Araneae and its relatives

Eocene

Where Araneae and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

7,541 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records at least 261 sites for Araneae, and this reads 240 of them. Of that, one read hit the database's own return limit, so every count below is a floor rather than a total. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

302 references

Each of the 2,828 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 290 further references are not listed. Each entry links to the Paleobiology Database's own record for the work.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Araneae

Credit
Michael Gäbler
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Araneae was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itSerikodiastida through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Clerck 1757)