Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 July 2026 | 18(7): 29364–29366

ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print)

https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.10297.18.7.29364-29366

#10297 | Received 25 November 2025 | Final received 03 April 2026| Finally accepted 22 June 2026

New record of cob-web spider species Steatoda albomaculata (De Geer, 1778) (Araneae: Theridiidae) from Kachchh, India with detailed distribution of Indian species of Steatoda Sundevall, 1833

Subhash I. Parmar ¹ , Vivek U. Chauhan ² , Ketankumar Yogi ³ & Pranav J. Pandya ⁴

^1,2 Department of Earth and Environmental Science, Krantiguru Shyamji Krishna Verma Kachchh University, Bhuj, Gujarat 370001, India.

^1,3,4 Department of Zoology, R. R. Lalan College, Bhuj, Gujarat 370001, India.

^1,2,3 Department of Environment and Life Sciences, Krantiguru Shyamji Krishna Verma Kachchh University, Bhuj, Gujarat 370001, India.

¹ parmarsubhash329@gmail.com (corresponding author), ² vvkchauhan00@gmail.com, ³ yogiketan11@gmail.com, ⁴ pranavpandya1@yahoo.com

Editor: Shiju T. Raj, St. Joseph’s College, Kozhikode, India. Date of publication: 26 July 2026 (online & print)

Citation: Parmar, S.I., V.U. Chauhan, K. Yogi & P.J. Pandya (2026). New record of cob-web spider species Steatoda albomaculata (De Geer, 1778) (Araneae: Theridiidae)

from Kachchh, India with detailed distribution of Indian species of Steatoda Sundevall, 1833. Journal of Threatened Taxa 18(7): 29364–29366. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.10297.18.7.29364-29366

Copyright: © Parmar et al. 2026. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproduction, and distribution of this article in any medium by providing adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of publication.

Funding: Self-funded.

Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Acknowledgements: Authors are thankful to: the UGC (University Grants Commission) for providing Junior Research fellowship (Award no. 231610067756) to SIP for the doctoral research; the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, KSKVK University for providing lab facilities under DST-FIST [Pr. No. SR/FST/ES-I/2018/29(C)]; and Mr. Deep Dudiya and Mr. Sebaj Gori for the technical support.

Abbreviations: ALE—anterior lateral eye | AME—anterior median eye | PLE—posterior lateral eye | PME—posterior median eye.

The cob-web spider family Theridiidae Sundevall, 1833 is the fourth largest family of the order Araneae Clerck, 1,757 and has 2,624 extant species belonging to 139 genera (WSC 2026), the genus Steatoda Sundevall, 1833, is cosmopolitan in distribution. Currently, it consists of 120 extant species, of which six species following, Steatoda alboclathrata (Simon, 1897), Steatoda albomaculata (De Geer, 1778), Steatoda cingulata (Thorell, 1890), Steatoda erigoniformis (Pickard-Cambridge, 1872), Steatoda paykulliana (Walckenaer, 1806) and Steatoda rufoannulata (Simon, 1899) were known from India (Caleb & Sankaran 2026). The known distribution records of these six species in India are compiled (Zamani et al 2022; Tripathi et al 2023; Parmar & Pandya 2025) and illustrated in Figure 1. Among these, a single species S. erigoniformis (Pickard-Cambridge, 1872) is reported in Gujarat (Parmar & Pandya 2025). Through recent investigations, we identified an additional species of genus Steatoda that has not been documented in Gujarat till date. Thus, this paper presents the new record and documentation of a species Steatoda albomaculata (De Geer, 1778), marking its first appearance from Kachchh district of Gujarat, India.

The specimens were hand-collected and studied under a Zeiss SteREO Discovery.V20 stereomicroscope and microphotographic images were taken by a Axiocam 208 colour digital camera attached to the stereomicroscope and enabled with the software Zeiss ZEN 3.3. The epigyne was dissected, soft tissues were cleared using 10% KOH and photographed by placing it in a cavity block filled with 70% ethanol, following Parmar et al (2024). All measurements are in millimetres (mm). The species was identified based on Levy & Amitai (1982) and Tripathi et al (2023). The examined specimens have been deposited in the reference collection of Department of Zoology, R.R. Lalan College, Bhuj-Kachchh, Gujarat, India.

Family Theridiidae Sundevall, 1833

Genus Steatoda Sundevall, 1833

Type species: Araneus castaneus Clerck, 1757

Steatoda albomaculata (De Geer, 1778)

(Images 1–4)

Aranea albo-maculata De Geer, 1778: 257, pl. 15, f. 2–4

Steatoda albomaculata Levi, 1957: 396, f. 56–65

For a complete list of taxonomic references refer WSC (2026).

Materials examined: RRLC-ZC/SP-14, 28.v.2025, 2 female, India, Gujarat, Kachchh, near Lakhadi Village (23.2705⁰ N, 69.3823⁰ E), 216 m, from under stones in arid habitat, leg. S. Parmar.

Diagnosis: The species can be easily distinguished by following characters: female epigyne with sclerotized transverse, elevated bridge centrally and a median furrow bordered by fleshy folds on sides, oval-shaped spermathecae connected to coiled copulatory ducts.

Description: Female (in alcohol) (images 1–4) Body length 3.55. Carapace length 1.50, width 1.11. Abdomen length 2.21, width 1.61. Eye measurements and inter-distances: AME 0.08, ALE 0.08, PME 0.07, PLE 0.08, AME–ALE 0.03, PME–PME 0.05, ALE–ALE 0.32, PME–PLE 0.06, PLE–PLE 0.38, ALE–PME 0.12. legs Measurements: leg I 4.58 [1.37, 0.44, 1.05, 1.13, 0.59], leg II 2.96 [1.17, 0.34, 0.60, 0.48, 0.36], leg III 2.89 [0.97, 0.32, 0.52, 0.66, 0.42], leg IV 4.31 [1.36, 0.50, 1.03, 0.89, 0.52]. Leg formula: 1423. Carapace yellowish-brown, sternum light brown, ocular area black. Abdomen broad, oval-shaped, dorsally covered with white patch and black wavy pattern on lateral sides, ventrally dark brown at middle. Legs yellowish-brown with dark annulations. Epigyne (as in Images 3–4) brownish, large, with centrally elevated, sclerotized transverse bridge, a median furrow present, bordered by fleshy folds on sides (Image 3), spermathecae brown, compact, and oval-shaped connected to long copulatory ducts, coiling underneath (Image 4).

Natural history: S. albomaculata was found in the arid habitat of Kachchh, where it prefers dry and open areas with scattered vegetation. The species was encountered on the ground under stones. Two individuals were spotted at the same site at temperatures of 35–40 ⁰C.

Distribution: North America, Europe, northern Africa, Russia (Europe to Far East), Caucasus, Iran, Kazakhstan, central Asia, western Asia, India, China, Korea, Japan (WSC 2026).

Distribution in India: Rajasthan (Tripathi et al. 2023), Gujarat (New record) (Image 5).

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References

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De Geer, C. (1778). Des araignées. In: Mémoires pour servir à l’histoire des insectes. Tome septième. Pierre Hesselberg, Stockholm, 176–324, pl. 11–19, 38–39.

Levi, H.W. (1957). The spider genera Crustulina and Steatoda in North America, Central America, and the West Indies (Araneae, Theridiidae). Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 117: 367–424.

Levy, G. & P. Amitai (1982). The cobweb spider genus Steatoda (Araneae, Theridiidae) of Israel and Sinai. Zoologica Scripta 11(1): 13–30. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1463-6409.1982.tb00515.x

Parmar, S.I., P.J. Pandya & D.A. Prajapati (2024). New distribution records of two jumping spiders of the genus Stenaelurillus Simon, 1886 (Araneae: Salticidae) from Gujarat, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 16(6): 25492–25494. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.9108.16.6.25492-25494

Parmar S.I. & P.J. Pandya (2025). First record of the cobweb spider (Steatoda erigoniformis) from Gujarat. Taprobanica 14(2): 309. https://doi.org/10.47605/tapro.v14i2.385

Tripathi, R., A.K. Jangid, A.V. Sudhikumar, M. Siliwal & S. Dutta (2023). Steatoda albomaculata (De Geer, 1778) (Araneae: Theridiidae): an addition to the spider fauna of India. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 119(3): 266–272. https://doi.org/10.17087/jbnhs/2022/v119/160688

WSC (2026). World Spider Catalog. Version 27. Natural History Museum Bern, online at http://wsc.nmbe.ch. Accessed on 17.vi.2026.

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