Ground spiders comprise Gnaphosidae, the seventh largest spider family with over 2,000 described species in over 100 genera distributed worldwide. There are 105 species known to central Europe, and common genera include Gnaphosa, Drassodes, Micaria, Cesonia, Zelotes and many others. They are closely related to Clubionidae. At present, no ground spiders are known to be seriously venomous to humans.
Benoy Krishna Tikader (1928–1994) was an Indian arachnologist and zoologist and a leading expert on Indian spiders in his time. He worked in the Zoological Survey of India and published the Handbook of Indian Spiders in 1987. The book describes 40 families and 1066 species of India, many of which were described by Tikader himself. The handbook is a guide to all arachnids including scorpions, and not just spiders. He was also a popular scientific author in his native language of Bengali, and was the author of Banglar Makorsha for the layman.
Prodidominae is a family of spider, sometimes called long-spinneret ground spiders. It was formerly regarded as a subfamily of Gnaphosidae, but was raised to a family in 2022.
Kituba is a small genus of central African ground spiders. It was first described by B. V. B. Rodrigues and C. A. Rheims in 2020, and it has only been found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. As of December 2021 it contains only two species: K. langalanga and K. mayombensis.
Gnaphosa artaensis is a ground spider species found in Mallorca.
Gnaphosa bicolor is a ground spider species found in Europe to Ukraine and Georgia.
Gnaphosa fallax is a ground spider species found in Hungary.
Gnaphosa jucunda is a ground spider species found in Russia and Ukraine.
Gnaphosa lonai is a ground spider species found in Italy.
Gnaphosa moesta is a ground spider species found in Hungary, Romania, Ukraine and Russia.
Gnaphosa mongolica is a ground spider species found from Turkey, Hungary to China.
Gnaphosa occidentalis is a ground spider species found in Western Europe.
Gnaphosa oceanica is a ground spider species found in France.
Gnaphosa prosperi is a ground spider species found in Spain.
Micaria is a genus of ground spiders that was first described by Niklas Westring in 1851. They are 1.3 to 6.5 millimetres long.
Litopyllus is a genus of ground spiders that was first described by R. V. Chamberlin in 1922. As of May 2019 it contains only three species: L. cubanus, L. realisticus, and L. temporarius.
Xizangiana is a genus of East Asian ground spiders. The genus was first described in 2004 under the name Xizangia, but this had already been used for at least two other groups of animals. The replacement name Xizangiana was published by Sherwood, Li & Zhang in 2022. As of June 2022, the genus contains only two species, both found in China: X. linzhiensis and X. rigaze.
Nopyllus is a genus of spiders in the family Prodidominae. It was first described in 2014 by Ott, both found in Brazil. As of 2017, it contains 2 species.
Verita is a genus of spiders in the family Gnaphosidae. It was first described in 2016 by Ramírez & Grismado. As of 2017, it contains only one species, Verita williamsi, from Argentina.
Chatzakia is a genus of spiders in the family Gnaphosidae. It was first described in 2016 by Lissner & Bosmans. This genus was named in honour of the Greek arachnologist Maria Chatzaki. As of 2017, it contains only one species, Chatzakia balearica, found on the Balearic Islands.
