ARACHNIPEDIA for 2010

Surprise visit.

I HAVE three favourite spiders. Some would think that weird.

My first being the Australian redback. A Latrodectus spider, closely related to the infamous American black widow (we have far less-dangerous, related steatoda species in the UK, like the Nobilis [false widow] and Bipuncta [rabbit hutch spider]). My second favourite is the Fen raft spider (Dolomedes).
Thirdly, the woodlouse spider (Dysdera Crocata).
I'm particularly curious about the redback, as it is so commonly found in and around houses right across Australia, is dangerous, yet hasn't killed a human in decades. If I ever visited Australia, I'd be looking for redbacks everywhere, both through fear and interest.
The raft spiders are incredibly rare, so I'd also like to see one of them too, as they live in the UK, near streams and eat small fish!
Most of my knowledge about spiders is purely based on what I've read, not what I've seen! I'm enthusiastic about common spiders we find in our homes all the time, but I'm excited when I stumble upon an arachnid I've not only read about, but have taken the time to search for.

Dysdera Crocata (The woodlouse spider) has elluded me for years. Arguably one of Britain's most venomous spiders, it's an unusual looking animal. Red thorax, orange legs. Creamy grey abdomen, and MASSIVE chelicerae.
In fact, despite the fact I've read about this spider in great detail, watched youtube videos, read toxicology reports about its bite, written about it on this site, more than once! (CLICK HERE) (AND HERE), I have to admit I felt a teeny bit tentative when a young male strayed into my bathroom yesterday. I didn't have a light on, but, in semi darkness, identified it in my mind as a mere mouse spider (herpyllus blackwalli). I was wrong!
I was inquisitive and switched on the light. Bloody Hell, it's a woodlouse spider!
They aren't anywhere near deadly. They have a bite with very little neurotoxin, but it is very acidic, much like a wasp sting. People have been hospitalised by these spiders. I've always said though, unless you know which species it is, you should never handle a spider or scorpion.
Woodlouse Spiders aren't endangered, but they are quite unusual to find indoors, or to spot at all really.
They have the largest chelicerae of any spider in the UK, which is scarily obvious when you see one in the flesh!
They're not particularly massive spiders either. Very robust though. Like little, red armoured tanks.

So, the young male I kept from the other night.
It's easily identified as a male. It's abdomen is relatively slender. Females have bulbous abdomens. Males have a massive thorax. As with all spiders, the male has pedipalps (boxing glove-like bulbous feelers either side of its mouthparts). Pedipalps are sex organs in the spider world, but not in crustaceans. Evolution is very weird.

The young male dysdera crocata I kept has now been fed. I have him in a container. I found woodlice and he has eaten two.

A small mouse spider (herpyllus blackwalli) wandered into my flat earlier. I trapped it, totally humanely, and, as an experiment, dropped it into the woodlouse spider's tub. The woodlouse spider absolutely desecrated it. As far as I know, dysdera don't predate on other spiders, so I presume it saw it as threat to its food supply.

Anyway, I include some photos. Unfortunately, said Mr Woodlouse Spider chose to fold back his fangs for every picture, but I'll be keeping him for a while, as long as I have a supply of woodlouse! I'm determined to snap those bl**dy massive fangs!
I'm uploading three pictures. One of them shows the woodlouse spider walking away from the remains of the mouse spider I dropped in. And they WERE remains. It annihilated it! Click on any photo for a larger view.

He's not that tasty, but I'll eat him anyway...

Researchers have claimed that cannabilistic species of spiders find their husband prey less tasty CLICK HERE

In a week where octopusses were observed using tools, (CLICK HERE) it seems the eight-legged amongst us are getting ideas. If a crab opens a burger bar in the next few days, I'm booked on one of Branson's new Virgin Galactic flights... you mark my words!

12 months, but still only eight legs!

I believe, for reasons only known to the calendar, that Arachnipedia (in it's current blogspot state) is now a year old.

It is currently still in a state of redesign. But I PROMISE to provide videos in the new, updated and redesigned guise.

This should all go live in January. 

In the meantime, please, if you have spider photos to identify, or just want to drop me a line, the address, as always is gavinpow77@btinternet.com

Season's meetings

It's that time of year when one string leads to another and we see/hear the patter of tiny feet, in their (spiders')  hope that, come January, the eight-legged amongst us will do and celebrate the same.

September is spider month. Always has been, always will be. Tegenaria duellica will be roaming your living room. Orb weavers will be spinning gorgeous webs in your garden. 

Many folk will be screaming, squishing and panicking. Yawn!

Britain's most noticeable spiders breed in September and October. 

Rich pickings for spider lovers this year it seems. (Hate to blow my own trumpet, but I do, ahem, believe I predicted this in an earlier post on this very site).

From the BBC.....

CLICK HERE FOR BBC VIDEO REPORT

This blog is currently under a serious redesign and therefore, the web is somewhat tangled.

However, all previous posts and links should still work as they always did. Videos should play and pictures should show.... if a little muddled!

Adverts, however, will now plonk themselves literally anywhere!

For this I am sorry. 

I hope to begin blogging merrily away on a completely redesigned site in January. This will have the spider identification pages I have mentioned before.

Lurking in a broom cupboard for too long, you WILL find spiders in your closet...

Bit of a jovial entry here.

Spiders have evaded me for some time now. Disappointing really, when one is trying to trap, snap them and then write about them. Summer has seemingly been and gone and then arrived again.

You mark my words though, Tegenaria species will be stonkers this autumn. 

Perfect summer. Very warm and very wet. Insects a-plenty for them to feed upon. These arachnids are the large species group that Brits know and usually detest. 

I'd be amazed if there weren't thousands of them crawling out come the third week in September. This is the time they generally look to mate. 

So if you see one, Pleeeeeeease don't kill it. 

They are the largest genus of UK spiders (give or take the raft spiders and cave spiders, that we never come into contact with).

Like I always say, leave big house spiders alone, or move them outside humanely. 

Always better to trap them in a cup or suchlike. Like most large spiders, they have an ability to bite. Tegenaria species generally hide away and fake death rather than attack. But if large and cornered, may try to nip. They are not at all dangerous and their bite (at its rarest worst) could feel like a mild bee sting.

Anyway, back to my entry. 

Not trying to be a showbiz ligger here, but please enjoy this small insight into TV presenter Philip Schofield's late night antics! - it IS spider-related. 

He could obviously handle Gordon the Gopher, but when he realised an eight-legged beast was going live in their bedroom, he went into twitter mode......

However, 

Time to 'Echo' what I said....

A few weeks ago, I wrote this....... 

"Some time ago (can be found a l-o-n-g way down this blog somewhere) I predicted the false widow spider [steatoda nobilis] would continue spreading in the UK. Although not much of a prediction really, more of a statement of the bleedin' obvious!

Well, apparently (according to 'the press') the spider is, now, heading northwards! Although, I suspect this eternal story is a staple favourite of journos in the usual summer copy drought, or 'silly season'. I think I've read the headline 'Dangerous spider spreads across the UK' every summer, since I first took an interest in the eight-legged beasts!

But still, it's fact I guess, and definately worth a mention on Arachnipedia."

So here, loyal readers, at the very end of July, as the 'copy drought' of which I spoke hits, The Dorset Echo informs its readers that an arachnid that has lived in the area for decades [The one, the only, Steatoda Nobilis] is still living in the area. And just to illustrate it is in the area, the paper's photographer 'paps' the spider (actually no larger than a five pence piece) in such a way to make it look like it has just stepped out of the set of the fourth Harry Potter film!

FULL STORY HERE

Time to dispel a few myths. Oh daddy-oh, there are quite a few here....

It's an issue I've meant to address for ages on arachnipedia. 

Daddy-long-legs spiders.

Now 

there's an interesting piece of folklore around these (or some of their closely related arthropods). Even comedian Ricky Gervais plays on this completely unsubstantiated garbage in his stand-up performance 'Animals'.

Quoting the joke (In reference to a cranefly): "Yeah, you're unsteady on your feet, but you have the most powerful venom known to man". Cranefly: "But I have no means of administering it - I have no teeth!" 

Well, it goes something like that anyway.

I have to admit that two or three years ago, I wasn't too sure about the facts on this eit

her!

There are three very common arthropods we all see in the UK with the 'daddy-long-legs' characteristics. And these are the facts.

(1) Crane-fly/Daddy-long-legs: A seasonal insect seen worldwide and common in British summers/autumn. Particularly irritating due to its gangling legs and attraction to light. It does not bite. The ones with a sharpened extrusion at the end of their abdomen are females - this is an ovipositor and not a stinger. Males have a blunted end to their abdomen. There are several species of this insect. Some look like giant gnats. The only threat this animal poses is that it lays its eggs in the ground and resulting larvae are the feared Leatherjackets that can eat awayy at roots. This insect is not venomous in any way. It is not a spider OR an arachnid of any type.

(2) Harvestman: These are a bit of an anomaly. They are an eight-legged invertebrate animal, which belong to a sub-category of arachnid called Opil

iones. There are thousands of these species. Far more than there are spiders. I wouldn't even start to go into sub-species, because I wouldn't even know what the hell I was talking about! Out of my depth there!

Harvestman are, while being arachnids, not actually spiders, and are more closely related to scorpions, ticks and some lice. But they are not insects and do not have a significant bite!

(3) Pholcidae/Pholcid Spider/Cellar Spider: (TOP PHOTO) This is a reclusive arachnid of the sub-species araneomorphae, which is common and spread worldwide. It is a spindly and fragile animal, which has uncate fangs. Uncate fangs are small non-protrudin

g chelicerae, designed for killing prey of a similar size. In the USA, the feared Brown Recluse/Fiddle Spider also has uncate chelicerae and can kill small animals such as lizards. There is no proof that any spider in the frail Pholcidae genus could be dangerous. 

In 2004, the US television series MythBusters set out to test the age-old 'They're the most dangerous animal on the planet, but don't have teeth big enough' theory. 

Result = Itchy arms from Pholcid spiders (which probably do give a nip) and that was it!

Incidentally, the spindly, dainty weakling that is the cellar/pholcid spider, eats (in the UK) all Tegenaria species, mouse spiders and much much more! In America, it is known for predating on the black widow. And in Australia, it eats the Redback and its much larger cousin the huntsman. Watch this NetworkTen video from Australia  

And we worry that it might bite us 'cos of a 90s urban legend?