"Epeira" was first coined by Charles Athanase Walckenaer in 1805, for a range of spiders now considered Araneidae (orb-weavers). Over time, a rather diverse set of spiders was grouped under this genus name, including species from the modern families Araneidae, Mimetidae ("Mimetus syllepsicus" described by Nicholas Marcellus Hentz in 1832), Tetragnathidae, Theridiidae, Theridiosomatidae ("Theridiosoma gemmosum", described by Ludwig Carl Christian Koch in 1877 as "Theridion gemmosum"), Titanoecidae ("Nurscia albomaculata", described by Hippolyte Lucas in 1846 as "Epeira albo-maculata") and Uloboridae ("Uloborus glomosus", described by Walckenaer in 1842 as "Epeira glomosus"). "Epeira cylindrica" O. P.-Cambridge, 1889 was at a time placed in Linyphiidae and is considered "incertae sedis", as is ""Araneus" cylindriformis" (Roewer, 1942).