As early as 1960 Ernst Kullmann and Wolfgang Crome organized a first meeting of German arachnologists during the annual meeting of the Deutsche Zoologische Gesellschaft in Bonn. Four meetings later the Arachnologische Gesellschaft (AraGes) was founded. The first issue of the Arachnologische Mitteilungen was published in 1991 as a publication of the arachnological study groups of Germany.

The founding meeting of the Arachnologische Gesellschaft e.V. took place on 13 October, 1996 during a meeting of the German-speking arachnologists in Adelsheim-Sennfeld. Registration in the association registry of the district court Bayreuth followed on 26 June, 1997. The provisional board consisted of Theo Blick (chairman), Ambros Hänggi and Barbara Baehr (deputy chairpersons) and Stefan Litsche (treasurer). The first meeting of the AraGes took place on 25 April, 1998 in Mainz. At this point the AraGes counted 212 members. Since then AraGes Meetings take place every third year.

There exists a long tradition of regional arachnological study groups as precursers to the AraGes. The NORAA (Nordostdeutsche Arachnologische Arbeitsgemeinschaft) emerged from the “Arbeitskreis Arachnologie” of the Cultural Association of the GDR (“Kulturbund der DDR”), with regular (mostly annual) meetings between 1978 and 1989. Between 2002 and 2007 these NORAA Meetings took place under the title “Hallescher Arachnologentag” (engl. Halle’s Arachnological Day). The NOWARA (Nordwestdeutsche Arachnologische Arbeitsgemeinschaft) existed between 1993 and 2006. At this point, the only active regional branch of the AraGes is the SARA (Südliche Arachnologische Arbeitsgemeinschaft), with annual meetings since 1989. The AraGes supports activities in founding, refounding and continuation of regional activities.

In 2014 the Forum Arachnids of Europe (online since 2004) integrated into the Arachnologische Gesellschaft as a new working group with an enlargement of its activities in its forum and Wiki.