Huge cave spiders taken home

[loripo]

BBC Earth and teletext have news today on 'escaped' spiders being turfed out of their current home and taken back home...
BBC - Earth News - Huge UK cave spiders 'sent' home

I liked the 'pooters' they used to catch them

[No.9 Spider]

Habitation of a derelict building by M. menardi wouldn't be unlikely in any case if it were in the vicinity and conditions were right, which obviously they were in this example.
I just hope they don't traipse for miles and release the 'Cave' spiders too far inside from the entrance. Sometimes common names are taken too literally. I suppose that they have at least made an effort .
M. bourneti is a Nationally Scarce (Notable B) species and has never been recorded remotely near Malham Tarn. As with many species it's probably under-recorded due to it's similarity to M. menardi.
I tried to establish a previous recording for M. bourneti on Puffin Island in 1995 but unsuccessfully. It was assumed to have been found in rabbit burrows, though in 1995 there were mainly rat holes in predominance.

The Updated Distribution Maps - British Arachnological Society

The Updated Distribution Maps - British Arachnological Society



No.9 Spider

[Bruce Williams]

Interesting video Lori and extra info No9 - thanks for posting.

Bruce

[loripo]

I saw from the maps that they must be around the Gtr London area, and I wondered if they might be in the underground systems air shafts, as it said the young go to the light in order to spread out before finding a place to live. Those shafts must never have been cleared out for years I should think, who knows what might be in there

[badgerwatcher]

That's what I've got in my log pile, and in the badgers' sett under the shed as I mentioned on my previous thread. Most of the logs gone now, and we've been putting the egg sacs under the shed. They're very beautiful, pure white and huge.

[No.9 Spider]

Originally Posted by loripo

I saw from the maps that they must be around the Gtr London area, and I wondered if they might be in the underground systems air shafts, as it said the young go to the light in order to spread out before finding a place to live. Those shafts must never have been cleared out for years I should think, who knows what might be in there

Actual shafts are unlikely as locations for M. menardi as they require a more horizontal plane from which to suspend their egg-sacs. Any fissures or horizontal passages in the system would be possibilities, as could possibly be just underneath any cappings on the shaft.
M. menardi will inhabit many damp dark places. Railway tunnels and canal tunnels are favourites aside from cave and mines and even drainage culverts can suffice.
They usually occupy areas that are just beyond the limit of the natural light, and where it is suitably damp and ventilated.


No.9 Spider

[badgerwatcher]

[badgerwatcher]

Sorry, should have written with the photo. I took this picture when the top of the badger's sett by my shed fell in.