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| Image: Theerasak Saksritawee |
Even in the UK the makeup of our spider population is constantly shifting as invasive species establish footholds and the distribution of many species changes radically as the constant ebb and flow of battle between species rages largely unnoticed by ourselves. And if inter species conflict were all that our spiders had to contend with then there would be little need to even pen this particular missive. However, the impact that WE have upon our ecosystems is sadly something that our resident spiders just cannot withstand.
I'm not talking about individual exterminations here. One person no matter how determined their crusade, can make little difference to the overall population density of any given species. Even the ill advised and indiscriminate slaughter of anything looking anything like a False Widow (I shudder to think of how many innocent Zygiella x - notata were murdered in the course of this press fueled hysteria) achieved little aside from reducing the competition for food, ironically leading to generally larger (though by no means gigantic as the tabloids would have you believe) specimens being encountered this past year.
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| Victim of mistaken identity - Photo Credit Jenni Cox |
Nor do I refer, at least not specifically, to pollution and climate change. Although admittedly this certainly can have a significant impact upon ecosystems and population density it is generally quite a slow process and evolution can give animals a chance to adapt over time. Look at the example of the pepper moth which has changed its colouration over the years to blend into its grimy polluted urban background. Besides, spiders are largely unchanged in the last 250 million years when compared to most creatures and the scorpions have changed even less.
No, what I am referring to dear reader, is mankind's propensity to spread and develop wherever we may please with scant regard to what may be destroyed in the process. Destroying natural habitat in our overwhelming impulse to expand our territory and living space in an attempt to accommodate an exploding population. Already our presence and introduction to previously isolated areas has resulted in the roundabout annihilation of entire species. Be it us, our pets or our habits that prove too much for the resident species to handle, we are usually nothing but a destructive element upon wherever we may go.
Such is the case in the example of Nothophantes horridus, the Horrid Ground Weaver. Wait wait, come back! It's just a name, albeit a highly unfortunate one at that. Horrid is actually Latin for Bristly so really its the Bristly Ground Weaver. Hmm, not all that much better i guess, Hairy ground weaver (though that would be hirsutum) how about Fuzzy Ground Weaver? I digress. Though it bears an unfortunate moniker this tiny (around 2mm) arachnid is entirely nonthreatening and inoffensive and generally beneath most people's notice, and therein lies the problem.
This spiders existence has only been confirmed in Plymouth (UK) and even then has only been recorded at three sites (all abandoned limestone quarries) one of which has already been lost to recent development work. The spider inhabits the loose scree in the walls of the quarry and relies upon this environment so any work done to stabilize or shore up those walls will put it at great risk. So what we have here is a species possibly endemic to Britain and the rarest spider on our fair isle, perhaps the rarest spider in the world. Even more importantly it is a monotypic example (the only one in its Genus) so we are not talking about the eradication of a single species of spider but of an entire Genus. Nothophantes could very conceivably be wiped from the map.
And that would be a real shame. Yet another species to be added to humanity's butchers bill and a further blow to our national biodiversity. Although of the family Linyphiidae (you may know them as the Money Spider - now THERE'S a name: The Fuzzy Money Spider, much better than Horrid Ground Weaver) this spider is still clearly considered unique enough to warrant its own genus classification. and therefore worth saving (though I would bemoan the loss of ANY species)
And of course N.horridus is far from the only endangered species in Britain (though it is certainly the most vulnerable when worldwide populations are considered.) The Ladybird Spider is one of the more well known ones, blessed with both a rather nice name (its scientific name is Eresus cinnaberinus) and being one of the UKs most resplendent spiders, the Ladybird spider, although widespread throughout much of continental Europe is reduced to a tiny colony in Dorset in a secret location. It enjoys protected status and it is not even an endemic species! I guess having a nice name and a pretty image makes all the difference.
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| "Eresus cinnaberinus spec" by Affemitwaffe - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eresus_cinnaberinus_spec.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Eresus_cinnaberinus_spec.jpg |
There is a campaign in progress to save the sites in Plymouth. Unfortunately money talks and against corporate might ecological concerns always seem to come up secondary. However the Daily Mail (unbelievably enough) has featured the story and i'm rather hoping this article will grant the issue more exposure. The Horrid Ground Weaver (sorry Fuzzy Money Spider) is worth saving. We will never know the potential value in these species and their worth to the ecosystem if we destroy them. I said at the start of this article that an estimated 500,000 species of arachnid wait to be discovered but how many of those will we wipe from the face of the planet before we get the chance?
Have a look at the campaign and sign if you can here:
https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/critically-endangered-spider-under-threat-from-development
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