News Archive

Spiders Brought to Book – University of Reading

20 June 2003

Photo: Steve Hopkin

Students from the University of Reading have discovered an impressive 199 different species of spider within a 10km radius of the University campus as part of their 'Biology of Spiders' course taught by Dr Steve Hopkin in the School of Animal and Microbial Sciences. This year, some students set their sites further afield and collected records for the National Spider Recording Scheme from more distant sites. The best find was a single specimen of the very rare Pirate spider Ero aphana from a horsebox on Wait's Farm near Kingsclere between Newbury and Basingstoke. Ero aphana is classified as RDB 2 'Vulnerable' in the British Red Data book and until very recently was only known from a handful of heathland sites in southern England. Unfortunately, the horsebox was full of hay collected from a number of nearby fields so the exact locality of the spider is not known. However, new records of Ero aphana collected over the past 12 months suggest that it may be increasing its range due to global warming. Reading students may have detected the early signs of this expansion. Also found recently were two populations of the RDB 3 'Rare' species Hyptiotes paradoxus also known as the 'Triangle spider' after the unusual shape of its web. The males have huge sexual organs that they carry like a pair of giant boxing gloves at the front of the body. Thriving populations of the Triangle spider were found on two local nature reserves on opposite sides of the River Thames at the Holies near Streatley (National Trust) and Hartslock near Goring (BBOWT), the latter also being famous for its colony of rare Monkey orchids. For more information please contact Carol Derham or Sue Rayner