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Thread about spiders (not for the arachnophobic!)

In today's "Bristol Post" ...

spiders.jpg

A plague of 10 million venomous false widow spiders is currently rampaging across the South West.

Gardeners across the region have started to notice the rise of the so-called false widow spiders, the deadly cousin of the black widow.
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shurely shome mishtake ...
 
They've been "rampaging" across the whole of England for about 100 or so years. The bote is no worse than a bee sting, unless you happen to be allergic. But they are AKA the biting spider, as they are quite agressive. There're are loads around here (herts) but I do notice more of them on the south coast.
 
gentlegreen said:
I'm rather afraid I have them living in the room where I sleep.
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You'll be ok, they like to be under stuff, so just look out for webs under the edges of tables or under arm chairs, walls and stuff like that. Or you could introduce lots of daddy long leg spiders and let them fight it out. Not much gets past them.
 
They're not aggressive, they tend only to bite when sat on/rolled on in bed, or if they are in your clothes when you put them on. Laundry and bedclothes seem like good hiding places to them. Best way to avoid being bitten (by any spider) is to give clothes a good shake/bang shoes together and tip them up before putting them on, and to pull back the sheets and make sure there's nothing in your bed when you get in. Oh and don't pick them up in your hands, use the 'glass and postcard' technique if you need to move one. Spiders do not make a habit of leaping on you and gleefully attacking you, they bite when they are trapped against you and are in fear for their life.

Also the reason why spider bite stories with complications make the news is because they are very rare, most people will never get bitten by a spider in their life, and of those that do only a small percentage have complications that require medical treatment. That's why the few occurrences in this country that are of medical significance are deemed newsworthy - because they are so rare. (There's also the argument that media focus/worrying about killer spiders/strains of flu that aren't yet transmissible human to human/meteor strike is a diversion from the real issues).
 
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gentlegreen said:
I only thought yesterday as I was looking at the orb weavers in my front garden - do they have variable patterns on their bodies ?
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Yes they are very variable. The common garden orb weaver is also known as the '5 spot cross' spider because of the pattern of spots on their back, but the pattern varies between individuals. There are also other related species that are different colours and don't have spots - such as the green orb weaver, which has a bright green abdomen. Some orb weavers are striped. There are also orb weavers which seem to have very ornate bodies, with angular shapes. So there are a wide variety of orb-weavers, and they do not all look the same - the things they have in common are that they all build the classic 'halloween' style web with circular/spiral strands, and that they tend not to be very good at moving on the ground - they tend to have short legs in comparison to body size (with the 3rd set of legs from the front being very short), and stay on their webs (or on a nearby plant or structure with web strands attached so that they can feel any vibration and react quickly) where they can move quickly and gracefully.

ETA: My bridge spider is still going strong!
 
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I'm no fan of spiders, I find them pretty fascinating and wonderful but do NOT like to share space with them...however I have got to the point where I can cope with the little ones that live in tiny kitchen corners, and also we have quite a few cellar spiders living here. Cellar spiders I quite like; they don't have the SUDDEN SPIDER thing that other kinds do, they just spindle about and I'm led to believe they eat the kind of spiders I don't like. So I leave them alone.
 
xes said:
Or you could introduce lots of daddy long leg spiders and let them fight it out. Not much gets past them.
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Hate to be the pedant on any thread (although that's probably a lie - it is a bit of a hobby :oops: ) but they are not spiders - they are arachnids (as are scorpions), but they aren't spiders. Spiders have a body in 2 compartments, abdomen and thorax. Harvestmen (sometimes known as daddy long legs spider) have only one body compartment.
 
Epona said:
Hate to be the pedant on any thread (although that's probably a lie - it is a bit of a hobby :oops: ) but they are not spiders - they are arachnids (as are scorpions), but they aren't spiders. Spiders have a body in 2 compartments, abdomen and thorax. Harvestmen (sometimes known as daddy long legs spider) have only one body compartment.
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These aren't harvestmen though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pholcidae

800px-Pholcus.phalangioides.6905.jpg

There was a "Living World" on harvestmen :-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01nsz7b
 
gentlegreen said:
These aren't harvestmen though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pholcidae

View attachment 41790
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Ah OK - USUALLY when people say 'daddy long legs' they are referring to either a crane fly, or a harvestman, neither of which are spiders. I have found that there are regional differences in the use of the term (either crane fly or harvestman - where I am from a crane fly is daddy long legs and a harvestman is a harvestman, to people from other areas a harvestman can be called a daddy long legs), but I have never seen it applied to a cellar spider before. Such is the hazard when using common names that can refer to a number of things, the exact meaning is largely dependent upon where you are from, rather than an accurate taxonomy - you'll have to forgive me for misunderstanding :)
 
All of the big gangly-legged spiders are daddy long legs - probably just something I learned as a kid in the North East of England. :)
 
farmerbarleymow said:
All of the big gangly-legged spiders are daddy long legs - probably just something I learned as a kid in the North East of England. :)
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I do think it's a regional thing, hence why it can be confusing! I'm from Surrey and to me a daddy long legs is a crane fly and only ever a crane fly, it's not a term I'd use for an arachnid, yet to my OH daddy long legs has a much wider meaning and encompasses various different arthropods with long legs - so it's difficult to know exactly what people mean when they use the term - is it a fly, is it a spider, is it another type of arachnid, who knows? :)
 
gentlegreen said:
Daddy Longlegs are flies for me too - first sign of autumn.
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I fucking hate the way they always manage to dangle their legs in my face when I'm just drifting off to sleep!

nephrotoma.jpg
 
Epona said:
I do think it's a regional thing, hence why it can be confusing! I'm from Surrey and to me a daddy long legs is a crane fly and only ever a crane fly, it's not a term I'd use for an arachnid, yet to my OH daddy long legs has a much wider meaning and encompasses various different arthropods with long legs - so it's difficult to know exactly what people mean when they use the term - is it a fly, is it a spider, is it another type of arachnid, who knows? :)
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I'm originally from Sussex and Daddy Long Legs was only used to refer to Crane Flies too.
 
gentlegreen said:
I'd never noticed before how much they resemble dragon flies.
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Crane flies are a lot smaller in the body and not at all irridescent - but yes they are similar in body shape. Their larvae do horrendous damage to potatoes (probably not to crops grown on an industrial/commercial scale, but if you've ever tried to grow spuds in your garden in an area where they are numerous, crane fly larvae (leatherjackets) can be the bane of your potato-growing life, and have the potential to ruin any chance of a good crop of spuds!)
 
I'll see your leatherjackets and raise you ...

grubs.jpg

I tried to feed them to the birds but they wouldn't take them...
 
There's a really big spider sitting in the kitchen. Given that it's pissing down outside, I'll give him till tonight to make himself scarce or give mr moose the screaming abdabs.
 
I may have to learn how to use the macro facility on my camera - I probably have half a dozen species in my house and quite likely some of these false widows.
 
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