7
TWO LARGE FOREIGN SPIDERS IN SOUTHEND
For some years now Southend has been the only locality in Essex for the large and
impressive, Steatoda nobilis, a close relative of the more common Steatoda bipunctata
but considerably larger. This colony is presently known only from my house and garden,
but is almost certainly found elsewhere in the area. They are fond of sash windows, the
gaps between drain-pipes and brick walls, and on the ivy covered wall at the bottom of
my garden. The females never seem to leave their large, messy "platform" webs, but the
males with their black and white bodies and reddish legs, obviously wonder widely as
they often fall into the bath. This spider is known to bite if provoked and can produce
severe inflammation in some people. It is thought to have originated from south-western
Europe, Madeira or the Canaries. In Britain it seems to be restricted to southern ports. In
Southend, the proximity of the former banana warehouse may not be coincidental.
It now appears that Southend is the home to yet another large foreign spider, as on the
15th October this year a large spider was brought to the museum by a man who told me
that it had been crawling on his bedroom wall. When he tried to capture it, it leapt onto
the bed and bit his girlfriend who was sitting there. Looking at the huge "jaws" of this
spider, I could well believe it, even when he told me it drew blood. The spider was
identified as Segestria florentina, one of the largest spiders found in Britain. Black in
colour and quite hairy, it has large and impressive "jaws" or chelicerae which are of a
shining bottle-green colour. Bristowe in his new naturalist book "The World of Spiders"
goes to some length in describing his search for this spider which was then regarded as
extremely rare in Britain. It now seems to be established in quite a few coastal towns to
which Southend can now be added. As Bristowe explains, spiders of this genus are well
adapted to a life in narrow tunnels, and it seems that Segestria florentina normally lives
in crevices in brick walls. The spider spins a silk tube inside the hole. From the rim of
the hole a dozen or so stout threads stretch outwards and act as fishing lines. There is an
excellent illustration of this in Bristowe's book on page 112. As Bristowe so graphically
describes, she emerges with lightning speed with flashing green jaws, biting fiercely then
backing into her tube all in the space of about 2 seconds!
Segestria florentina seems to be a species which is particularly suited to a man-made
environment and is now found in many pails of the world including Argentina and
Australia. Its original home is thought to be the Mediterranean.
R. G. Payne