Forum Topic

Spiders

Just found a strange spider climbing the house wall - caught safely in a jam jar (unlike the 6 foot snake which was travelling along the fence last Summer) and we have identified it as a wasp spider....http://www.boxvalley.co.uk/nature/sns/wad.htm

Sarah Felstead ● 7179d6 Comments

Found out the reason the Spider expert wanted me to send him a photo of the web before confirming the spider’s identity.  Her web has a 'signature' woven into it called a stabilimentum (need to put your teeth back in before pronouncing that one).  The signature shows up as a zigzag thickening of silk across the centre of the web.  This is his reply to me - "Many thanks for the photos. 1607 and 1608 were most useful in showing the zigzag thickening of silk (known as the stabilimentum) across the centre of the web which is characteristic of the wasp spider. I have passed on your information to the national spider recorder and the record will be entered into the national database. He tells me he has received several records of the spider from house walls (but all close to gardens with good grasshopper populations). I was unaware of this so have learned something new myself."Now it is not an easy task taking a photo of a spider web, but you can just about see the zigzag he is talking about.  There are so many beautiful webs around at the moment; you might like to check a few to see if you have a wasp spider too?

Sarah Felstead ● 7171d

SarahYes he is OK, not sure what it was but he had to have injections very quickly. Luckly the research establishment is not far from the hospital.

Neil Chippendale ● 7176d

HiI Seen a spider what looked like the wasp spider in the Sutton Court Road subway in Chiswick!There are all so these other spiders what appear to have wings in that subway too I had 1 of these in my house the other week!Cheers!Steven

Account suspended ● 7176d

Neil, luckily the Wasp spider is harmless.  The difficulty is  (and I should not like to worry the good people of the neighbourhood) the man who surveys the spider - isn't positive from my photo, that it is, what, we are hoping it is .. and wants a picture of the web too ..  oooh, 'elp!What was your neighbour bitten by?  Are they okay?

Sarah Felstead ● 7178d

Thats one thing we get lots of here. Luckly we have a research centre nearby that extrcats the venom for medical use.My neighbour was bit a couple of weeks ago.

Neil Chippendale ● 7179d

Pleeeeese don't tell me this isn't a wasp spider!

Sarah Felstead ● 7179d