Females about 8–15 mm; males usually smaller.
Fine-art photographic collection
Nuctenea umbratica
A nocturnal orb-weaver that folds itself into bark cracks and shakes its entire web to locate prey.
About this species
Toad Spider
Nuctenea umbratica(Clerck, 1757)
Information reviewed15 July 2026
Nuctenea umbratica is a broad, flattened orb-weaver associated with tree trunks, fences and buildings. It hides by day and emerges after dusk to build a large wheel-shaped capture web.
Taxonomy
Animalia · Arthropoda · Insecta · Araneae · Araneidae · Nuctenea
Accepted taxon. · checked 2026-07-15
Europe eastwards to the Caucasus and AzerbaijanBroad range and selected reference localities — not a complete occurrence map.
Europe eastwards to the Caucasus and Azerbaijan
Bark crevices, old trees, walls, fences and window frames near suitable web supports.
Mostly nocturnal.
Flying insects trapped in its orb web.
Solitary.
What makes this species remarkable?
Muscle-attachment dimples help flatten the leathery abdomen, allowing the spider to squeeze beneath loose bark and into remarkably narrow cracks.
At night it can build an orb web up to about 70 centimetres across, linked by a signal thread to the spider’s daytime retreat.
Instead of merely plucking individual threads, it shakes the entire web, then counter-swings; the resulting vibration pattern helps reveal whether prey is present.
Sources and scientific references
More photographs
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