Biology
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Ladybird spiders live in burrows with silk trip-wires covered with dense fluffy threads that radiate outwards to catch their prey. These include large insects, including devil's coach horse and violet ground beetles. The female rarely leaves her burrow and the male only emerges for two weeks in May to breed. Having found a burrow containing a female, the male plucks at the trip wires in a way that distinguishes him from prey; this protects him from becoming a meal. After mating, the female lays up to 80 eggs in a cocoon in her burrow during the summer and guards them until the spiderlings hatch in July or August. She feeds them on regurgitated food and finally the spiders eat their own mother, the female can therefore only breed once. The spiderlings disperse to make their own burrows in the following April, and are mature after three or four years.
Conservation
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By 1993 it was estimated that there were probably no more than 50 individuals left in Britain and the ladybird spider was added to English Nature's Species Recovery Programme. The first priority was to manage the spiders' existing site and enlarge the area of suitable habitat. The next task was to establish a captive breeding colony. It was considered too risky to take spiders from the Dorset colony so, in partnership with the Federation of Zoological Gardens and the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, English Nature obtained permission to collect spiders from Denmark. Captive mating was successfully achieved in 1995. A large number of spiderlings hatched and these were taken into the care of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust at Martin Mere Nature Reserve Centre in Lancashire since when some have been reared to maturity.
The Dorset spider site was enlarged by clearing Rhododendron and pine with the help of the Forestry Commission and the ladybird spiders began extending their territory with the help of some hot, dry summers. By 1996, the number of burrows counted had reached 139. Other suitable heathland sites have been surveyed and, with the lessons learned from the Danish spider colony, hopes were high that an establishment using captive bred British spiders could get underway. However, the UK wild population of ladybird spiders seems to be increasing very happily. By the end of the summer of 2000 nearly 600 individuals had been counted and eight occupied burrows were moved successfully. This has led to a change of plan and the Dorset site may now prove sufficiently established to allow re-introductions to be made to former known sites using pure-bred UK spiders instead of captive bred ones.
Description
provided by Arkive
The attractive ladybird spider is one of the rarest in the UK. The males have a bright orange or vermilion back with four large black spots and two smaller ones, and superficially resemble a ladybird. Females and juvenile males are black and velvety. Both sexes and immature individuals have obvious large bulbous heads.
Habitat
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The ladybird spider favours south-facing, sheltered slopes with well-drained sandy soil. It constructs a silk-lined burrow among sparse heather and lichen.
Range
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Found scattered across northern and central Europe; it is replaced by closely related species in the Mediterranean and elsewhere in Europe (including E. cinnaberinus). It is rare everywhere, especially in the UK. It used to be found on the Dorset heaths, and possibly in the Isle of Wight and Cornwall, but is now restricted to a patch of heathland in Dorset measuring about 50 metres across surrounded by a pine plantation.
Status
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Classified as Endangered in the British Red Data Book and protected under Schedule 5 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act, 1981.
Threats
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Loss and neglect of habitat is the chief reason for the scarcity of the ladybird spider. Their existing patch of Dorset heath is threatened by invading rhododendron scrub and pine seedlings.
Eresus sandaliatus
provided by wikipedia EN
Eresus sandaliatus is a species of spider found primarily in northern and central Europe. Like other species of the genus Eresus, it is commonly called ladybird spider because of the coloration of the male.
E. sandaliatus is one of the three species into which Eresus cinnaberinus or Eresus niger has been divided.[1]
Description
Male E. sandaliatus are generally 6 to 9 millimetres (0.24 to 0.35 in) (a little bit smaller than other species of the E. cinnaberinus complex) and characterized by a bright orange back featuring four large and two small ebony spots. White hairs are never present on the back, and legs always lack red hairs. In contrast, the females are 10 to 16 millimetres (0.39 to 0.63 in) and jet-black.
Habits
Males enter the adult stage in early September, but overwinter in their webs and search for females only in May or June of the next year. Otherwise, this species is very similar to other species of E. cinnaberinus complex. After the 35-80 eggs hatch, the spiderlings receive a liquid from the mouth of the female. The female later seems to digest its own body, which leads to her death a few days later. The spiderlings then suck on the mother. The next spring they leave the web and build their own in close vicinity.[2]
Distribution
E. sandaliatus is native to Europe.[3]
Conservation
It is classified as endangered by the British Red Data Book and hence protected under the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act.
In 1993 it was estimated that only about 50 individual ladybird spiders were left in Britain, mainly due to deprivation of an appropriate habitat. In 2000, however, over 600 separate ladybird spiders were counted, probably owing to the efforts of English Nature's Species Recovery Programme and affiliated operations. It is currently the focus of a Back from the Brink conservation project, which aims to translocate spiders to start new populations.[4]
References
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Eresus sandaliatus: Brief Summary
provided by wikipedia EN
Eresus sandaliatus is a species of spider found primarily in northern and central Europe. Like other species of the genus Eresus, it is commonly called ladybird spider because of the coloration of the male.
E. sandaliatus is one of the three species into which Eresus cinnaberinus or Eresus niger has been divided.
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- cc-by-sa-3.0
- copyright
- Wikipedia authors and editors
