Enoplognatha Pavesi, 1880 (Araneae, Theridiidae) is a cosmopolitan genus of spiders that belongs to the fourth family with the greatest species richness worldwide. Currently, 75 species are formally accepted, of which 16 have been cited in the Iberian Peninsula DE BIURRUN et al., 2024; WORLD SPIDER CATALOG, 2024.

Enoplognatha mandibularis has a remarkably large distribution that fits the Eurosiberian chorotype MILANO et al., 2019. It includes Europe (mainly the countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea), north of Africa, Turkey, Israel, from western Russia to central Asia and China WORLD SPIDER CATALOG, 2024. It is the most cited species of its genus in the Iberian Peninsula, with up to 91 documented records DE BIURRUN et al., 2024. Despite the abundance of records, the biology of this species is still mostly unknown NENTWIG et al., 2024, which highlights the lack of studies in such an important group as spiders, both in ecosystem conservation and in biotechnological advances BRANCO et al., 2019; MILANO et al., 2021.

One adult male E. mandibularis was accidentally captured in a mosquitoes ovitrap (Fig. 1) intended for the collection of mosquito eggs from the 24th to the 31st of October 2023. The trap was located on the soil near one of the walls of a health center in the municipality of Redondela (UTM coordinates: 527259,80 4679032,02; zone 29; 100 m a.s.l.). A second adult male was found dead and dry on the 7th of March 2024, on one of the interior walls of the Faculty of Biology at the University Campus As Lagoas-Marcosende (UTM coordinates: 526047,87 4668435,16; zone 29; 410 m a.s.l). Specimens were studied under a Leica S9 D stereomicroscope equipped with a Flexacam C1 camera and following the key of NENTWIG et al. (2024). To confirm the identification, the presence of the diagnostic characters of E. mandibularis was verified, such as the basal tubercle on the radix of the copulatory bulb (Fig. 2e) and two large teeth on the cheliceral groove (basal one stronger, longer and with a curved base) (Fig. 2b). Other characters typical of the genus were also observed, such as the sternum protruding between coxae IV (Fig. 2b), lateral eyes almost touching (Fig. 2c), male chelicerae strongly enlarged and divergent (Fig. 2a) and the stridulatory ridges on the posterior part of the carapace (Fig. 2d LEVY, 1998; BOSMANS & VAN KEER, 1999; NENTWIG et al., 2024. Because the male captured by the ovitrap could have spent up to a week in water, it was slightly damaged, so a meticulous cleaning job was carried out to remove the adhered debris and much of the filaments of fungi or bacteria that had begun to grow on the joint membranes. Even so, the coloration was noticeably deteriorated and the dorsal folium of the opisthosoma was practically indiscernible. However, the male found dead at the University was in even worse condition, with the prosoma and opisthosoma deformed due to being completely dried out.

Fig. 1Ovitrap in which the Enoplognatha mandibularis specimen was captured. 

Fig. 2Adult male of Enoplognatha mandibularis captured in Redondela. a. Dorsal view. b. Ventral view. c. Frontal view. d. Stridulatory organ; black arrows pointing to the stridulatory ridges on the posterior part of the carapace and the stridulatory picks on the anterodorsal part of the opisthosoma. e. Ventral view of the copulatory bulb; black arrow pointing the basal tubercle on the radix. 

Fig. 3 represents the previous records from the Iberian Spider Catalog of DE BIURRUN et al. (2024), along with the new citation shown here. A clear predominance is observed on the Mediterranean coast, while in the northwest of the peninsula only this new record appears, which would be closest to those in north of Portugal in the districts of Porto and Bragança. The closest one is in Vila do Conde, district of Porto, approximately 100 km away. Therefore, this is the first citation for the province of Pontevedra and for the entire Autonomous Community of Galicia, increasing the distribution range of this theridiid to the northwest of the peninsula.

Fig. 3Distribution map of Enoplognatha mandibularis in the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands. The green dots represent the previous records and the red dot corresponds to the new record for Galicia. Map made with Quantum GIS software (QGIS) version 3.28 (QGIS DEVELOPMENT TEAM, 2009).