Help with fen raft spider conservation project

[Rossco]

Dear all

A friend of mine used to be responsible for a conservation project on the biggest UK spider. A follow-up project has set up this on-line quiz to help with research to explore whether the banding on the Great Fen Raft Spider affects how easy it is to see and hence be eaten by predators. One of the people doing the research has established that banding is controlled by a single gene, but it is not clear why there may be differences in the proportions of banded and unbanded spiders in the population.

So if you fancy your chances as a 'virtual spider predator' please follow the link to Spider Spotting Challenge . It should only take about 10 mins and may help with our understanding of this threatened beasty's lifestyle – and will also test how good are your own powers of observation – there’s feedback for you at the end. I spotted 17, so let everyone here know how you did.

Thanks

Ross

[jaguarondi]

I got 21 out of 24. Might have got more but my baby daughter distracted me at the beginning and so I got timed out on the first two (or at least that's my excuse)