Spider with cream and brown abdomen

[Bruce Williams]

Stony Stratford, Bucks. On metal lining of tunnel under the A5 (near entrance).

Size: ~3mm

Help with identification appreciated:



Bruce

[frits_b]

I think it's a rather lightly coloured Neriene peltata.

[Geoff F]

Every spring I see quite a lot of similar spiders on low vegetation in a wood alongside an estuary; and everyone has a different colour scheme.

Eventually I came to the conclusion that they are probably Neriene peltata, as Frits suggested.

Pityohyphantes phrygianus is rather similar but is mostly found in northern conifer plantations. Neriene radiata is also similar but is an uncommon species which is normally found later in the year.

[Bruce Williams]

Thanks for your help frits and Geoff.

Yes the colour and markings are very different to the "normal" Neriene peltata although I accept your comments about variability. Here's another pic of the same spider. From memory I would say that the abdomen colour in the photo is fairly true to life.



Bruce

[Geoff F]

From my experience with these spiders there is no such thing as 'normal' colouration. I have just checked through my photos from April and May last year and each specimen has a totally different colour scheme; which varies from almost white to a rich reddish or chocolate brown.

Here are a couple of random variations as examples.





Males seem a bit more reliable and range from reddish brown to almost black.

I think it is the same species as your image, Bruce, and suspect they are N. peltata.

ps. hope this is going to work as I am having a few problems with this reply. Almost certainly 'operator error'. I think I probably forgot to click Process while uploading the images, then when back and retried; after which I couldn't find what I had already typed, so I started another reply. This time the Library Images icon link wouldn't show my photos. Finally found them and linked manually.

Just put it down to age!

[Bruce Williams]

Geoff - Thanks for posting your images....and yes your cream spider does look pretty much like mine.

I take your point about variability in colour and markings - by "normal" I meant the colour and markings you see in the Collins guide and probably the majority of Google'd images.

However, I did manage to find several N. peltata with the cream and brown colouring, see: http://www.davidnichollsphotography....nePeltata.html

Bruce

[frits_b]

If you search some more, you will find more similar ones:

Fotogalerie Arachnida

[Bruce Williams]

Thanks for the link Frits.

Bruce