An Essex population of Segestria florentina
Peter Harvey 32 Lodge Lane, Grays, Essex RM16 2YP
The only previous Essex records of the large impressive 6-eyed spider Segestria florentina
are one of a female found on the wall of a bedroom in Southend-on-Sea (Payne 1994),
and of a large female in November 2002 at Leigh-on-Sea in a box containing a toy that
had been sent by mail order from West London (R.G. Payne, pers. comm.). Now Fred
Stevens has identified a flourishing colony of Segestria florentina at Tiptree in Essex.
The original Tiptree spider, or its cast "skin", was found in the garden of Fred's sister
by his 6-year-old niece, Tara, who thought it looked "different" to the usual garden
spiders. Fred searched on the web and identified it as Segestria florentina. He sent me
photographs showing the characteristic green iridescence jaws of adult S. florentina
(see plate 1 and inset) and I was able to confirm his identification.
Fred looked where his niece found the original spider and found the characteristic webs
(see plate 2) high on the wall. During the daytime the webs' owners were too shy to
show more than the tip of a couple of black legs, but at night at least 6 live S. florentina
were confirmed.
Bristow (1958) describes the web of Segestria with its characteristic long straight' fishing
lines' radiating from the tubular entrance, quite unlike the matted silk of the common
Amaurobius similis frequently to be seen on walls and fences in houses and gardens.
Brushing one of the fishing lines very gently with a fine tip of grass should get the
owner to dart out of her tube with the speed of lightning, biting fiercely and then once
more backing into her tube all in the space of about two seconds.
There are three British Segestria species, but only the smallest species S. senoculata is
at all widespread, living in a tube constructed in a hole in a wall, under bark and stones
or in rubble and scree. The two other species are scarce, S. bavarica occurring in a few
sites on the south and west coast as far north as N. Wales and S. florentina with scattered
records in southern England (Harvey et al. 2002). S. florentina is widespread in western
Europe as far north as Denmark and, as in Britain, it has often been found near to ports.
In Bristowe (1958) the spider was only established in a few southern towns with near
access to the sea, but it is now recorded from inland towns as far north as Oxford. The
spider has increasingly been found inland, and there now seems to be evidence that it is
both increasing in numbers and distribution.
References
Bristowe W.S. 1958. The World of Spiders. London: Collins New Naturalist.
Harvey, PR., Nellist, D.R. & Telfer, M.G (eds) 2002. Provisional atlas of British
spiders (Arachnida, Araneae), Volumes 1 &2. Huntingdon: Biological Records
Centre.
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Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 43, January 2004