Spider help

[sebastianbawn]

I was hoping someone may be able to help me distinguish between Enoplognatha ovata and Enoplognatha mordax / Enoplognatha latimana. Iunderstand they are different in size, and the latter is more southern, but I would appreciate any extra details

[frits_b]

The only reliable way is to examine the gentials. Several other methods have been suggested, but none have proven to be reliable.

For adult females, this is not very difficult; you can see the difference using a magnifying glass or loupe. You can examine the underside of the spider by letting it walk on to a camera filter (or a small piece of glass), and fixating (without crushing) the spider with some cotton (or some other soft material).

What you look for is the pointy black protrusions along the bottom of the black spot. Latima has these, ovata doesn't (see pics). I don't have any experience (yet!) with males.
Good luck!

[sebastianbawn]

I thought that might be the case, I use the Roberts guide with detailed epigyne pics so should not be too fifficult in future (hopefully!). Is mordax a british one?

[frits_b]

Oh, I overlooked E. mordax. It's supposed to occur in the UK and cannot be confused with ovata/latimana because it's so much darker.

[sebastianbawn]

Thank you Frits, your comments are much appreciated