A Year in the Valley

A Year in the Valley

Discovering the flora and fauna in a small square of Portmellon Valley

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  • Orb-weaver Spider and two types of Wolf Spider

    Orb-weaver Spider and two types of Wolf Spider

    This is a common orb-weaver spider with some prey.  Orb-weavers are so-called because they make circular webs.  There is an orb-weaver called a missing sector orb-weaver which builds a web with a missing quadrant and only a single thread attaching the web from that quarter.  You might be able to see from the photo that this web is complete, so it is a common orb-weaver.

    There are two variants of the Common Orb-weaver Spider Metallina mengei has a longer dark stripe on its abdomen than M. segmentate.  This is the former.

    Wolf spiders were running over a pile of dry grass in the far left-hand corner of the watermeadow.  This is a female carrying an egg sack under her body.  Around one hundred baby spiders will hatch dramatically and hitch a lift on her back for a few days before floating away on silk parachutes.  Wolf-spiders are so-called as they hunt down prey, rather than catching it in a web.  There are several species of wolf spider, but it is difficult to tell them apart without close examination.  This one was black and bristly.

    This is a different wolf spider.  It was tweedy grey and hairy.  It looked like a Pardosa milvina, or shore spider, which is found in wetlands but in North America, so it must be a European variant of that sub-species, as I couldn’t find anything about it being an invasive species to the UK.

    Daisy D

    20 August 2023
    Spiders
    Common Orb-weaver Spider, Wolf Spider

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