The Essex Naturalist
47
species Enoplognatha mordax has been recorded sparingly at a number of
localities around the Essex coast. David Carr recorded a male at Little Wakering
on 14th June 1997. Ray Ruffell recorded a female of the very local Robertus
arundineti at Inworth on 7th July 1996. This species has usually been recorded at
coastal sites, but has also turned up inland in recent years. This specimen was
taken at the entrance to a set-aside field.
Family Metidae
The Nationally Scarce cave spider Meta bourneti is much rarer than its close
relative Meta menardi and Merrett (1990) states that it is only recorded from
nine sites in England and Wales. We found the species at Little Easton on 22nd
June 1996 under a manhole cover. This was only thanks to Ken Hill who
insisted that we should investigate the manhole in the hope of finding Meta
menardi! The only other Essex record is from near Harwich Docks in 1975, but
clearly a bit more fieldwork in culverts, tunnels and manholes could show the
species to be more widespread.
Orb-web spiders (Family Araneidae)
Ray Ruffell found Larinioides sclopetarius at Boxted on 16th September 1996. This
large species is very local, occurring near water, particularly near or underneath
bridges. Two more Nationally Scarce (Notable B) species have been recorded in
new sites. David Carr found both Araniella inconspicua and Zilla diodia at Long
Running in Epping Forest on 5th June 1996. David also took Zilla diodia at Little
Wakering on 14th June 1996 and we both found it earlier in the day at Hadleigh
Great Wood. The species is another example of a spider much more common in
Essex than it seems to be elsewhere in the country. It is widespread in the south
of the county extending across central and north-eastern Essex. Conversely
certain species of spider cited in the literature as being widespread and common
in the British Isles are extremely rare in the county. One such spider is Mangora
acalypha which is confined to relic heathland at the Backwarden and Tiptree
Heath and heathy scrub near Woodham Mortimer and Woodham Walter. A
visit to the Backwarden on 19th October 1996 showed the species to still be
present in some numbers. Why it should be absent from other apparently suitable
sites in the county is a mystery.
However the most remarkable spider find of the year must be the large and
colourful Argiope bruennichi, virtually unmistakable for any other spider with its
yellow and black abdominal stripes and characterisitic zig-zag bands of silk across
the orb-web (the stabilimenta). A possible sighting of this species in August
1997 was first reported to me by Steven Aycliffe of English Nature, who had
seen the spider with the Senior Ranger Nick Stanley in an SSSI hay meadow at
One Tree Hill, Basildon. Unfortunately by the time I was told of this the field
had been cut for hay and subsequent searches with the ranger could not locate
any more specimens. It was therefore with considerable surprise and delight that