SPIDERS OF THE GENUS PHILODROMUS (ARANEAE) EST WILTSHIRE 



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Fig. 12. P. praedatus records in Wiltshire 



oak trees in open situations, in wood pasture, at 

 the edge of woodland rides or in old hedgerows'. 



This species was first recorded in Wiltshire in 

 Savernake Forest by Clive Hambler in 1978. No 

 further records were made until 2000, when two 

 males were found at Worton in June and a female 

 at Marden in July. At both sites the spiders were 

 beaten from oaks; a single tree in a hedgerow at 

 Marden (not far from the henge), and from a group 

 of oaks beside a stream at Worton. In both cases 

 the trees' canopies were in easy reach, allowing a 

 good sample of foliage to be searched. If this spider 

 preferentially occupies the higher reaches of the 

 canopy its apparent rarity may be due to the relative 

 inaccessibility of its preferred habitat. 



P. margaritatus (Clerck, 1757) 

 National status: Nationally scarce, Notable B. Very 

 uncommon; recorded mainly from the south of the 

 country but also from central Scotland. 

 Wiltshire: Very uncommon. There have been no 

 recent records. Indeed I do not know where nor 

 when this species was found in Wiltshire, though it 

 was noted as occurring here by Bristowe, 1938. 



P.margaritatus is found on the bark and, to a lesser 

 extent, the foliage of lichen covered trees. It is very 

 well camouflaged against such a background and 

 hence may be under-recorded, especially in 

 comparison with other species which can also more 

 easily be beaten from foliage. 



Species not recorded in Wiltshire 



Of the other species, Philodromus histrio is unlikely 

 to occur in Wiltshire as it requires acid heathland 

 with stands of heather. P. emarginatus is also found 

 on heather and has a very local distribution and is 

 again unlikely to occur in Wiltshire. P. fallax usually 

 occurs on the coast, on sandy ground. P. longipalpis 

 has only recently been identified as occurring in 

 the British Isles and has been found in Essex, 

 Somerset and Surrey (ref. Provisional Atlas). Its 

 habitat seems to be oak trees but immatures have 

 been found on heather. It may well be found in 

 Wiltshire. P. buxi was recently struck off the British 

 list (Merrett, P. and Murphy, J. A., 2000). 



Bibliography 



BRISTOWE, W. S., 1938. The Comity of Spiders. The 



Ray Society, London. 

 CROCKER, J. and DAWS, J., 2001. Spiders of 



Leicestershire and Rutland; Millennium Adas. Kairos 



Press, Newtown Linford. 

 HARVEY, P. R., NELLIST, D.R. andTELFER, M. (eds), 



2002. Provisional Atlas of British Spiders (Arachnida, 



Araneae), HMSO, London. 

 LOCKET, G.H., MILLIDGE, A.F and MERRETT, P., 



1974. British Spiders, Volume 3, The Ray Society, 



London. 

 MERRETT, P., 1990. A Review of the Nationally 



Notable Spiders of Great Britain. NCC Report to 



CSD Contract No. HF3-08-21(3). 

 MERRETT, P and MURPHY, J. A., 2000. A revised 



checklist of British spiders, Bulletin of the British 



Arachnological Society, 11, 345-357. 

 SEGERS, H., 1 989. A redescription of Philodromus albidus 



Kulczynski, 1911 (Araneae, Philodromidae), Bulletin 



of the British Arachnological Society, 8, 38-40. 



