The abdomen of the other redimita(s) I found had a much paler yellow ground color marked only with black dots, not the reddish-brown (uh, unknown word) triangle things, and an adult Eno is about twice this size.

This one , not IDed, may be a redimita, and it has fewer dots.

Then there's , with yet different dot placements.

The redimita form of Enoplognatha ovata is the one with a reddish abdomen and yellowish triangles. I think you're thinking of the lineata form, which does have dots like the ones you've linked to above.

The Enoplognatha ovata info page shows the different color forms.

And a female Enoplognatha ranges in size from 3-9mm. The males from 2.8-6.5mm. So it isn't impossible that this is just a small-ish mother.

There are 9 species of Eno in the US; ranging from Alaska to Florida and then specifically California...Bug Guide only has three species so far, so who knows what the others actually look like. I have never seen them before.

Yes, I was thinking of lineata. I've consulted that guide page before, having submitted photos of a male E. ovata of the redimita form. There was quite a discussion at the time, people trying to figure out what he was. My doubts about identifying this mother spider as Eno come from the abdomen's ground color, which is too bright, too yellow; the shape of the darker bands, which on redimita are more like stripes, not rows of triangles; and the brown, rather than red, color of those bands. This spider has dark dots like lineata, but lineata doesn't have the red/brown markings, and redimita doesn't have the dots.

Maybe it's one of those six other species.

I think we both need to remember that colors and patterns of abdomens are the worst thing to base any ID on. I am finding that I can sometimes be sort of stubborn when I have already convinced myself on an ID. lol. I could absolutely be wrong, but I still think its an Eno. Hopefully some fresh eyes will take a look. :)

After all this, I think maybe the egg sac could be the key.

Theridion on left, Enoplognatha on right:


Your spider's eyes had me convinced it was an Eno, but now I think maybe the egg sac speaks louder? The only issue is that the Theridion that your spider resembles is an as of yet unknown species. They are listed as unknowna thru unknownd.

Among those five, my spider looks most like unknowna but has black dots and lighter leg banding.

(watch, one of the experts will comment and have an obvious ID that we never thought of, lol)