Moss Ground Hunter

Gnaphosa muscorum · Order: Araneae · Family: Gnaphosidae

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
Moss Ground Hunter
Photo: John Baur, CC BY

The Moss Ground Hunter has a Holarctic distribution, meaning it occurs across northern parts of the world. A subspecies, G. muscorum gaunitzi, is known from Sweden and Russia.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it lives

The subspecies G. muscorum gaunitzi occurs in Sweden and Russia.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it comes from

Gnaphosa muscorum is a ground spider with a Holarctic range.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it is found in the US

Recorded in 27 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Colorado, North Dakota, Maine, Montana, New Mexico, Alaska, Pennsylvania, Utah.

Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.

Source: GBIF

Status: native in North America; native in United States; native in Canada. Source: iNaturalist

Months it is reported in the US

JFMAMJJASOND

Source: GBIF

Same family (Gnaphosidae)

Eastern Parson SpiderEastern Parson SpiderHerpyllus ecclesiasticusCan biteMouse SpiderMouse SpiderScotophaeus blackwalliTwo-lined Stealthy Ground SpiderTwo-lined Stealthy Ground SpiderCesonia bilineata

Sources

  • Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnaphosa_muscorum

Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia

Text written 2026-10-24 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-24.

How this page works

This is one bug's fact sheet. The colored box at the top says whether it is dangerous. Sections below cover how to recognize it, whether it is a pest, and how to deal with it. The US map shows which states have records; tap a state to see other bugs there.

Every fact on Bug FAQ comes from a named source (university extension sites, government agencies, GBIF, iNaturalist, Wikipedia). The source is linked next to each section. If we have no source for something, we leave it out.