First Record of Leucauge rubromaculata Benjamin, 2024 (Araneae, Tetragnathidae) from India

Abstract

The orb-weaving spider, Leucauge rubromaculata Benjamin, 2024, of the family Tetragnathidae Menge, 1866, is newly recorded from India. The species was recently described by Benjamin based on both sexes which were collected from the forest of Sri Lanka. In this study, we record Leucauge rubromaculata for the first time from India and it is also the first record of the species from the Western Ghats and the second report in the world. A detailed morphological description and images of both sexes are provided. We also examined type materials of L. dorsotuberculata Tikader, 1982, which is an endemic species to India and provided type material images.