---
title: "Northern Bear Spider"
description: "Arctosa cinerea — Insects & spiders. Arctosa cinerea is one of the most conspicuous wolf spider of central Europe, with a palearctic distribution and also found in Congo."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/northern-bear-spider
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Northern Bear Spider

> Arctosa cinerea — Insects & spiders. Arctosa cinerea is one of the most conspicuous wolf spider of central Europe, with a palearctic distribution and also found in Congo.

- Scientific name: *Arctosa cinerea*
- Category: `insects` (Insects & spiders)
- Habitats: `freshwater` (Lakes & rivers)
- iNaturalist observations: 1258
- Wikidata: [Q1434389](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1434389)
- iNaturalist taxon: [468087](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/468087)

## Names

- en: Northern Bear Spider
- de: Flussuferwolfspinne
- fr: Arctose cendrée
- nl: Grindwolfspin
- pl: Wymyk szarawy

## Countries with the most observations

PL (145), DE (107), RU (75), DK (71), AT (63), IT (48), GB (33), FR (26), UA (23), LT (21), SE (17), NL (14)

## Summary

Arctosa cinerea is one of the most conspicuous wolf spider of central Europe, with a palearctic distribution and also found in Congo.  The spider reaches a length of 17 mm (males only 14 mm), and occurs only on sandy beaches of rivers, lakes and oceans. Its grey-brown color makes for a good camouflage, and so it is not often seen, even if it wanders around during daylight. They dig holes in the ground, which they cover with silk, or hide under rocks.

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctosa_cinerea

## Photo

![Northern Bear Spider](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/northern-bear-spider/medium.jpg)

Photo: raw_no · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/240344488

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/northern-bear-spider?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).