Enoplognatha mandibularis (Lucas, 1846)
Description
Male
Male palp with large basal tubercles on radix. Conductor with simple, short tip. Embolus short.
Prosoma light brown. Sternum black-brown. Chelicerae brown. Legs light brown, sometimes with darker rings. Opisthosoma blackish, ventrally unicoloured, dorsally with large, grey-yellow folium, which shows large, black spots on sides and in heart region.
Body length male: 2.2-6.0 mmFemale
Epigyne with approximately heart-shaped epigynal groove, ± as wide as long, with unsclerotised posterior margin, paler than the sclerotised depression.
Body length female: 2.4-8.0 mmAdditional information
biology not certainly known, because often confused with similar species
Distribution
Phenology
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
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Figures
Pedipalp
(Wiehle 1937)
Pedipalp, ventral view
(Azheganova 1968)
Pedipalp, ventral view
(Bosmans & Van Keer 1999)
Pedipalp, ventral view
(Locket & Millidge 1953)
Pedipalp
(Bosmans & Van Keer 1999)
Pedipalp
(Roberts 1995)
Pedipalp, ventral view
(Cortés-Fossati & Pinilla Rosa 2023)
Pedipalp, prolateral view
(Wunderlich 2023)
Pedipalp, retrolateral view
(Wunderlich 2023)
Pedipalp, ventral view
(Wunderlich 2023)
Pedipalp, retrolateral view
(Van Keer et al. 2025)
Pedipalp, ventral view
(Van Keer et al. 2025)
Tip of pedipalp
(Locket & Millidge 1953)
Chelicerae, ventral view
(Bosmans & Van Keer 1999)
Chelicerae, ventral view
(Wiehle 1937)
Chelicerae, ventral view
(Locket & Millidge 1953)
Chelicera, ventral view
(Wunderlich 2023)
Habitus, dorsal view
(Van Keer et al. 2025)
Epigyne
(Bosmans & Van Keer 1999)
Epigyne
(Roberts 1995)
Epigyne
(Wiehle 1937)
Epigyne
(Locket & Millidge 1953)
Epigyne
(Van Keer et al. 2025)
Vulva, ventral view
(Bosmans & Van Keer 1999)
Vulva
(Wiehle 1937)
Habitus, dorsal view
(Van Keer et al. 2025)
Chelicerae, ventral view
(Locket & Millidge 1953)
Habitus
(Wiehle 1937)
Distribution List
References
Azheganova N S (1968) Kratkii opredelitel' paukov (Aranei) lesnoi i lesostepnoi zony SSSR. Akademia Nauk SSSR, 149pp. 
Benhacene R, Adjami A, Hadjeb A, Kermiche K, Ouakid M L (2023) Bibliographic checklist of the Algerian spider fauna (Araneae). Zootaxa 5352: 301-357
Blagoev G, Deltshev C, Lazarov S, Naumova M (2018) The spiders (Araneae) of Bulgaria. Version: August 2018. National Museum of Natural History, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Online at http://www.nmnhs.com/spiders-bulgaria/ (accessed on 10.9.2018)
Bosmans R (2003) A checklist of the spiders of Tunisia, with description of a new species of Palliduphantes Saaristo & Tanasevitch (Araneae: Linyphiidae). Kaupia - Darmstädter Beiträge zur Naturgeschichte 12: 89-109
Bosmans R, Chatzaki M (2005) A catalogue of the spiders of Greece – a critical review of all spider species cited from Greece with their localities. Nieuwsbrief van de Belgische arachnologische Vereniging 20 (2, suppl.): 1-124
Bosmans R, Van Keer J (1999) The genus Enoplognatha Pavesi, 1880 in the Mediterranean region (Araneae: Theridiidae). Bulletin of the British Arachnological Society 11: 209-241
Branco V V, Morano E, Cardoso P (2019) An update to the Iberian spider checklist (Araneae). Zootaxa 4614: 201-254
Cortés-Fossati F, Pinilla Rosa M (2023) Enoplognatha mandibularis (Lucas, 1846) (Araneae, Theridiidae), nueva adición al catálogo aracnológico de la comunidad de Madrid. Revista Ibérica de Aracnología 42: 243-244
Danışman T, Kunt K B, Özkütük R S, Coşar İ (2025a) The checklist of the spiders of Turkey. Version 2025 [last updated 01 December 2025], online at http://www.spidersofturkey.info
Demircan Aksan N, Topçu A (2022c) A preliminary checklist of the spider fauna of European Türkiye. Serket 19: 39-56
Elkrew H, Hamza A, Ghana S, Shaibi T, Swehli A I, Elmareme H, Ahmad A (2024) Checklist of the spiders (Araneae) of Libya. Pakistan Journal of Life and Social Sciences 22: 19346-19369
Gajdoš P, Svatoň J, Sloboda J (1999) Katalóg pavúkov Slovenska. Catalogue of Slovakian spiders. Ústav kr. ekol. SAV, Bratislava, 337 pp.
Isaia M, Tolve M, Pantini P (2025) Araneae.it: 2.0: the new updated version of the digital catalog of the Italian spiders and other arachnids (Arachnida: Araneae, Opiliones, Scorpiones, Pseudoscorpiones, Palpigradi, Solifugae). Fragmenta Entomologica 57: 197-204
Kmira G, Nasri-Ammar, Petillon J, Bosmans R (2025) Catalog of the spiders of Tunisia (Arachnida: Araneae). Zootaxa 5641: 1-95
Le Peru B (2007) Catalogue et répartition des araignées de France. Revue Arachnologique 16: 1-468
Locket G H, Millidge A F (1953) British spiders. Vol. II. Ray Society, London, 449 pp.
Milosevic B (2002) Aranea – Popis vrsta – Checklist. Hrvatsko entomološko društvo – Inventar entomofaune Hrvatske [Aranea – List of species – Checklist. Croatian Entomological Society – Inventory of Croatian entomofauna].
Pfliegler W A, Schönhofer A, Niedbała W, Vella P, Sciberras A, Vella A (2017) New records of mites (Acari) and harvestmen (Opiliones) from Malta with a preliminary checklist of Maltese Arachnida. Soil Organisms 89: 85-110
Ponomarev A V (2022) Spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) of the southeast of the Russian Plain: catalogue, the fauna specific features. SSC RAS Publishers, Rostov-on-Don, 640 pp.
Roberts M J (1995) Collins Field Guide: Spiders of Britain & Northern Europe. HarperCollins, London, 383 pp.
Samu F, Szinetár C (1999) Bibliographic check list of the Hungarian spider fauna. Bulletin of the British Arachnological Society 11: 161-184
Van Keer J, Lambrechts J, Jacobs M (2025) Enoplognatha mandibularis (Lucas, 1846) (Araneae, Theridiidae), a new species for the Belgian and Dutch spider fauna. Journal of the Belgian Arachnological Society 39: 92-98
Vrenozi B, Jäger P (2012) A faunistic study on ground-dwelling spiders (Araneae) in the Tirana district, Albania. Arachnologische Mitteilungen 44: 81-87
Wiehle H (1937) Spinnentiere oder Arachnoidea, VIII. 26: Familie Theridiidae oder Haubennetzspinnen (Kugelspinnen). Die Tierwelt Deutschlands 33: 119-222
WSC (2026) World Spider Catalog. Version 27. Natural History Museum Bern, online at http://wsc.nmbe.ch (20.5.2026) doi: 10.24436/2
Wunderlich J (2023) Contribution to the spider (Araneida) fauna of the Algarve, Portugal, with notes on the phylogeny of the superfamily Araneoidea and the description of the new araneoid family Fonteferridae. Beiträge zur Araneologie 16: 4-112