The Essex Naturalist
29
Money spider Porrhomma campbelli. A single male of the Micaria subopaca was
found on a trunk at Wormingford Mere on the 27th May. The spider can be
quite common on pine trunks in some Surrey heathlands and it has been
recorded for Suffolk, but similar habitats do not really occur in Essex, so this is a
very interesting occurrence. David Carr collected a female Porrhomma campbelli
at Latton Park on the 8th June. Both new county records have been confirmed
by Dr P Merrett. This brings the total number of species reliably recorded for the
county to 416. This represents about two-thirds of the national fauna and
compares extremely favourably with counties like Dorset and Kent, which one
would expect to have the richest faunas in Britain.
The Oonopid spider Oonops pulcher has few records in the county and David
Carr recorded the species on the 28th October 1995. The rather ant-like
Zodarion italicum was first recorded new to Britain from Grays Chalk Quarry in
1985. It has since proved to occur along the Thames Estuary in both old
grassland and open disturbed habitats between Eastbrookend and Shoebury Old
Ranges. The spider has obviously been present in the area for a considerable
time and its presence appears to represent the northern limit to a natural range
extending across Europe from Italy through France into Britain. One female was
taken at Ferry Fields in pitfall traps set by Colin Plant between 10th and 22nd
May.
The Nationally Scarce (Notable B) gnaphosid spider Trachyzelotes pedestris
was collected at Old Hall Marshes, North Essex on 23rd September 1995. This
species is rare in Essex but has proved to be very locally distributed in open
grassland habitats in the county.
A single male of the Nationally Vulnerable (RDB2) Clubiona juvenis was
collected from litter in Phragmites marsh at Old Hall Marshes on 23rd
September 1995. The only other Essex record of this rare species is from the
Essex Wildlife reserve Stanford Warren in South Essex where a number of
females were taken on two occasions in 1987 from Phragmites heads and litter.
The very local Diaea dorsata and the Nationally Scarce (Notable B)
Philodromus collinus crab spiders were collected at Latton Park near Harlow,
North Essex on the 8th June 1995 by David Carr. Males and females of the
Nationally Scarce (Notable B) Philodromus praedatus were collected off oaks at
Curtismill Green on the 24th June by David Carr and myself. This spider was
thought to be extremely rare in Britain but is now known to be much more
widespread and we have found it to be really quite common in Essex on large
oak trees. It has also been taken this year by David Carr at Norwood and
Tilegate Green on the 1st July and by myself at Wormingford Mere on the 27th
May. Another crab spider, the Nationally Scarce (Notable B) Philodromus
albidus, was present in some numbers at Curtismill Green on the 24th June and
it was taken at Wormingford Mere on the 27th May and by David Carr at
Matching Park on the 29th May.