10
AN APPEAL FOR RECORDS OR SPECIMENS OF HOUSE SPIDERS
The Essex Spider Group have spent the last 13 years or more recording spiders in Essex.
There are now nearly 422 species known from the county, about two thirds of the British
fauna although eighteen of these species have no recent records and loss of habitat means
that most of these must be considered extinct in Essex.
For most species the level of coverage is good and with over 40,000 records a publication
is now planned on the 'The Spiders of Essex'. We plan to complete active fieldwork for
this purpose during the 1999 season to fill in as many un-recorded county tetrads as
possible. However spiders associated with houses and gardens are still very under-
recorded because we do not generally hold field meetings in other people's houses!
/ am therefore making a special appeal to Field Club members
to send me records or specimens from their houses and gardens.
Tegenaria domestica
The well known ' house spiders' are various

species in the genus Tegenaria. The
commonest seems to be T. gigantea rather
than the "proper" house spider T. domestica
which appears to be rather rare in the
county. Much less common still is the large
"Cardinal House Spider" T. parietina and
the species T. agrestis, although usually
found outdoors, can also venture into
houses. 1 would need to see specimens of
any of these to confirm identification.
Under the eaves, around window frames
and fences the cribellate spider Amaurobius
similis, the orb-web spiders Nuctenea
umbratica and Zygiella x-notata and the
comb-footed spider Theridion melanurum
are very common and probably present on the outside of just about every house in the
county. The related species T blackwalli and T familiare which are apparently very rare
but may simply be overlooked. 
Gum-Squirting spider
Other species closely associated with

Scytodes thoracica
habitation include the Gum-Squirting
spider Scytodes thoracica and the Daddy-
Long-Legs spider Pholcus phalangioides,
both very characteristic in appearance
The zebra spider Salticus scenicus is
probably present on every house and in
every garden. The six-eyed spider Dysdera
crocata is a woodlice specialist, definitely
the gardener's friend and very easy to
recognise with its enormous jaws and
orange-red colour. It is often found under
stones, rubble and bricks in the garden and
greenhouses. The Garden spider Araneus
diadematus is probably found in every
Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 29, May 1999