Bug FAQScotinella redempta
Scotinella redempta · Order: Araneae · Family: Phrurolithidae
Scotinella redempta is a tiny spider, about 2 mm long, with a reddish-brown carapace and a dark grey abdomen marked with light spots and a distinctive W-shaped pattern. It lives in deciduous forest leaf litter in the eastern United States and Canada and can be distinguished from similar spiders by examining its genitalia and the spiny front legs.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
The carapace is reddish-brown with faint radiating dark marks. The abdomen is dark grey, showing two light spots near the front, a W-shaped marking in the middle, and four thinner light marks toward the rear.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Males average about 2.13 mm in length, while females are slightly larger at about 2.35 mm.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
It is most often found by sifting leaf litter in deciduous forests.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
Scotinella redempta occurs in the eastern United States and eastern Canada.
Source: Wikipedia
Lookalikes
It can be reliably separated from look-alike species by inspecting the genitalia. Like other Phrurolithidae, its first two pairs of legs have prominent spines.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 16 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Ohio, West Virginia, North Carolina, Illinois, Indiana, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Florida.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Status: native in North America; native in Canada. Source: iNaturalist
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Questions people ask
How can I identify Scotinella redempta?
Look for a tiny spider with a reddish-brown carapace, a dark grey abdomen bearing light spots and a W-shaped mark, and check the genitalia for species-specific details; the front legs also have noticeable spines.
Source: Wikipedia
Where might I find Scotinella redempta?
Search leaf litter in deciduous forests of the eastern United States and Canada.
Source: Wikipedia
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotinella_redempta
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-28 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-28.