Arachnerds: July 2013

Spiders of Nashville, Tennessee

    My friend Jacquie Papé Shankster, kindly sent me this photo of a Spider
    she found 'sitting on her dog's toy. Very slow and did not run away!
    It was huge!'

Nashville, Tennessee, USA
18.07.13

Pseudoscorpions

    Order : Pseudoscorpionida / Chelonethida
Pseudoscorpions are tiny arachnids. The possess no sting. They have large
    pincers to catch prey, such as clothes moth larvae, carpet beetle larvae,
    booklice, ants, mites, small flies, as well as each other.
    This species, about 2-3mm in size, I found at Bedelands Nature Reserve,
    Burgess Hill.

Neobisium carcinoides - ID by Gerald Legg -
http://www.chelifer.com/pseudos/pseudoscorpions.htm
Bedelands Nature Reserve
Burgess Hill
West Sussex
03.03.13

Episinus angulatus

    Family : Theridiidae
    Genus : Episinus
    These spiders weave very small webs, consisting of just a few strands of silk.
    An uncommon spider, although, I have found three males and two females in
    my garden and inside my flat. Peter Harvey of the British Arachnological
    Society and the Spider Recording Scheme, ID'd the first, adult male for me,
    and he seems quite amused that I have these spiders in my home!

    Adult male Episinus angulatus
    ID by Peter Harvey BAS
    Brighton
    16.06.13

    Second Adult male Episinus angulatus that I've found on the door to my
    back garden.
    Brighton, East Sussex
    16.06.13

    Female - found in my living room!
    Brighton, East Sussex
    28.06.13

Xysticus lanio

    Family : Thomisidae
    Genus : Xysticus
    Size: Female - 7mm / Male - 5mm
    A new find for me. He appeared on my Bee suit, as I was photographing
    Beekeepers, amid 5 million Honey bees.
    Peter Harvey of the B.A.S. and S.R.S., ID'd him for me as 'an adult male
    Xysticus lanio, a rather local woodland spider. It is quite a nice spider to
    find'.

Paynes Southdown Bee Farms Ltd.
Hassocks, West Sussex
25.06.13

Arctosa leopardus

Family : Lycosidae
Genus : Arctosa
Size: Female - 9mm / Male - 7mm

    I found this handsome, and quite rare spider, hunting in the damp moss
    around the edge of a dew pond. I sent him to Peter Harvey of the B.A.S.
    and the S.R.S., he ID'd the spider as an adult male A. leopardus.

    Jewish Cemetery
    Brighton, East Sussex
    30.06.13

Achaearanea simulans

    Family : Theridiidae
    Genus : Achaearanea
Size : Female - 4mm / Male - 3mm
Spiders of the family, Theridiidae, weave quite large, three dimensional,
    messy looking, tangled webs. Achaearanea are characterized by a high
    abdomen. I usually find these spiders, hidden amongst leaf debris caught in
    their web.

I found this Spider, in an old woodland, along the edge of Bevendean

Down, East Sussex. I bent down, to look under a log and noticed this Spider

hanging from my head. ID'd by Peter Harvey of the British Arachnological

Society and the Spider Recording Scheme, as an adult female A. simulans.

Bevendean Down,

East Sussex

29.06.13

Source material : Spiders of Britain and Northern Europe by Dick Jones.

Sitticus pubescens

Family : Salticidae
Genus : Sitticus

A new find for me, a beautiful little jumping spider.
Confirmed by Peter Harvey of the British Arachnological Society
and the Spider Recording Scheme, as an adult male Sitticus pubescens.

    Paynes Southdown Bee Farms Ltd.,
    Hassocks, West Sussex
    07.05.13

    I found this second, male S. pubescens on a door, he sat in the same place for
    nearly a week!
    Paynes Southdown Bee Farms Ltd.,
    Hassocks, West Sussex
19.06.13