This data-set comprises validated species occurrence records of the Spiders of the African continent. It is a collection of data from citizen science contributions. Records range from 1880 to present.

SpiderMAP is a Virtual Museum and citizen science project which aims to determine the distribution and conservation priorities of Scorpions on the African continent. SpiderMAP is also an online repository for photographic species distribution records for this important group of arthropods.

Spiders make up the largest proportion of terrestrial invertebrate diversity after the insects and the mites, and they play a significant role as predators in ecosystems. Several initiatives are currently under-way to map spider distributions, and SpiderMAP aims to complement these by encouraging submissions from the ADU Citizen Scientist community. Records will be directed to the South African National Survey of Arachnida once identified.

Identification of citizen science records, based on the photos uploaded, is done by a panel of experts in the relevant taxa. The taxonomy is kept up-to-date by the project coordinator, a professional arachnologist. Identification to species level is very high for the Theraphosidae (Baboon spiders), other groups are identified to genus or family level.

All data, excepting records for sensitive taxa, are available to the public. Records are provided at the recorded precision, usually point coordinates. The coverage is moderate for South Africa, but very sparse for the rest of Africa.