Spider Hider

Orb web spider built a globe of silk to live inside, perhaps for protection from recent heavy rain?

Gossamer

The sheen on the grass in the afternoon sun is autumn gossamer, threads made by a myriad of tiny spiders. The whole of the clifftop grassland was swathed in it.

Cellar Spider

Found in cellars, this one was in a Lincoln cafe's outside toilet! Likes it cool and damp, so not so common in these days of central heating and cellar conversions. Used to travel between pub cellars in beer crates (and maybe still does).

Cave Spider

The picture below was taken in the exit tunnel of Treak Cliff Cavern, at Castleton in Derbyshire.  It shows a cave spider (Meta menardi).

The cave dwelling spider with the Latin name Meta menardi is fairly widespread throughout the UK, and not uncommon.  A colony may comprise just a few individuals or several hundred.  It prefers very low light levels or total darkness and may retreat deeper into the cave in winter months, moving to nearer the entrance in spring.  The cave spider is one of Britain’s biggest  spiders, reaching up to 1.5cm body length, with a 5cm leg span; females are larger than males.  They are not dangerous to humans, and are usually good natured but may nip (with no ill effects) if handled roughly.

Webs are spun in shadow or hollow pockets in the rock to catch prey which enters the cave such as fungus gnats, woodlice and millipedes.  Cave spiders produce teardrop shaped egg sacs, which are suspended from the cave roof.  When the baby spiders hatch in spring, they are attracted to light, which means they move outside the cave to find new areas to colonise.  By mid-summer, they become photophobic (hate light), so move back into caves or tunnels.  The adult spiders can live for as long as three years.

The European Society of Arachnology voted the cave spider (Meta menardi) “European spider of the year 2012, and a German cave research group named it "cave animal of the year" in 2012 as well! 

I Spied a Spider's ........... Fangs

Cast skin of tarantula spider showing piercing fangs from underneath. Not to be bitten by, but not that it normally would! Tarantula bites are not that harmful - most no worse than a bad wasp or bee sting - painful and sore for a while, but that said, having seen the fangs above, I wouldn't really fancy being bitten. There are only two anecdotal cases of death, one in South America and one in India, but if one were allergic and it caused anaphylactic shock, perhaps the the death rate could be higher. Most spiders will run away rather than bite, unless cornered, but the African baboon spiders can be pretty aggressive and will go for you if you get in range of their burrows. The South American species are also good at flicking highly irritating hairs from their abdomen if threatened (presumably to blind a predator). There is a very attractive web building spider in India and Ceylon (the Ornamental Tarantula, Poecilotheria species) which is reputed by the locals to have a poisonous bite and be aggressive, but that is probably no more than a general human fear of spiders. If you need to interact with one, slow steady and calm movements when attempting to move it are probably the best bet. What do you mean move it?!!!

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