Britain's rarest spider moves to new home

Feuer Frei! · 08-12-11, 08:53 AM

The UK's rarest spider is moving house today -- in a plastic bottle supplied by conservation group the RSPB.
The ladybird spider, so called for its bright red body covered in black spots, was on the brink of extinction in the mid 1990s when a single colony of just 56 individuals was left in the UK.
Since then conservationists have been helping it to spread further afield -- and today (Thursday) it is to be released into one of the most diverse insect and spider habitats in the country at the RSPB***8217;s Arne reserve in Dorset, the organisation announced.
Scientists have come up with an ingenious low-tech method of transferring the spiders. They are using empty plastic mineral water bottles which are an ideal shape and size for the spiders to make their nests in.
The bottles were filled with heather and moss and then captured spiders from the donor site were placed inside and monitored while they settled in and made a web. The bottles will be buried in holes in the ground at Arne so that the spiders can colonise the nearby area.
The spiders will be another piece of the invertebrate jigsaw for the Arne reserve which is already home to a host of rare insect and spider species. The heathland site boasts 240 species of spider and hundreds of insect species including the threatened silver studded blue butterfly, the Purbeck mason wasp which is only found in Dorset and the Roesel***8217;s bush cricket which was discovered on the site last year.

SOURCE

STEED · 08-12-11, 10:09 AM

KILL IT!

O' wait a minute it looks nice.

DON'T KILL IT.

Jimbuna · 08-12-11, 12:11 PM

It should be safe enough in it's new environment....STEEDS wallet

frau kaleun · 08-12-11, 12:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jimbuna

It should be safe enough in it's new environment....STEEDS wallet

Whatever, just as long as it doesn't turn up in my bathtub.

Jimbuna · 08-12-11, 02:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by frau kaleun

Whatever, just as long as it doesn't turn up in my bathtub.

Oh how I could respond.........inappropriately

AVGWarhawk · 08-12-11, 03:49 PM

It looks like a lady bug at first glance. Anyway, they will probably deposit the little buggers in their new surroundings bidding God speed and along will come corp duster.

Osmium Steele · 08-12-11, 07:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jimbuna

It should be safe enough in it's new environment....STEEDS wallet

If STEEDS' wallet is anything like mine, they're cobwebs, not spiderwebs.

AVGWarhawk · 08-12-11, 08:03 PM

Crop dusted corp dusted...either way those spiders are in trouble.

08-12-11, 08:53 AM	#1
Feuer Frei! Navy Seal Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Valhalla Posts: 5,295 Downloads: 141 Uploads: 17	Britain's rarest spider moves to new home The UK's rarest spider is moving house today -- in a plastic bottle supplied by conservation group the RSPB. The ladybird spider, so called for its bright red body covered in black spots, was on the brink of extinction in the mid 1990s when a single colony of just 56 individuals was left in the UK. Since then conservationists have been helping it to spread further afield -- and today (Thursday) it is to be released into one of the most diverse insect and spider habitats in the country at the RSPB*8217;s Arne reserve in Dorset, the organisation announced. Scientists have come up with an ingenious low-tech method of transferring the spiders. They are using empty plastic mineral water bottles which are an ideal shape and size for the spiders to make their nests in. The bottles were filled with heather and moss and then captured spiders from the donor site were placed inside and monitored while they settled in and made a web. The bottles will be buried in holes in the ground at Arne so that the spiders can colonise the nearby area. The spiders will be another piece of the invertebrate jigsaw for the Arne reserve which is already home to a host of rare insect and spider species. The heathland site boasts 240 species of spider and hundreds of insect species including the threatened silver studded blue butterfly, the Purbeck mason wasp which is only found in Dorset and the Roesel8217;s bush cricket which was discovered on the site last year. SOURCE __________________ "History is the lies that the victors agree on"-* Napoleon LINK TO MY SH 3 MODS

08-12-11, 10:09 AM	#2
STEED Lucky Jack Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Down Town UK Posts: 27,695 Downloads: 89 Uploads: 48	KILL IT! O' wait a minute it looks nice. DON'T KILL IT. __________________ Dr Who rest in peace 1963-2017. To borrow Davros saying...I NAME YOU CHIBNALL THE DESTROYER OF DR WHO YOU KILLED IT!

08-12-11, 12:11 PM	#3
Jimbuna Chief of the Boat Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: 250 metres below the surface Posts: 190,473 Downloads: 63 Uploads: 13	It should be safe enough in it's new environment....STEEDS wallet __________________ Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something. Oh my God, not again!!

08-12-11, 03:49 PM	#6
AVGWarhawk Lucky Jack Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: In a 1954 Buick. Posts: 28,253 Downloads: 90 Uploads: 0	It looks like a lady bug at first glance. Anyway, they will probably deposit the little buggers in their new surroundings bidding God speed and along will come corp duster. __________________ “You're painfully alive in a drugged and dying culture.” ― Richard Yates, Revolutionary Road

08-12-11, 08:03 PM	#8
AVGWarhawk Lucky Jack Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: In a 1954 Buick. Posts: 28,253 Downloads: 90 Uploads: 0	Crop dusted corp dusted...either way those spiders are in trouble. __________________ “You're painfully alive in a drugged and dying culture.” ― Richard Yates, Revolutionary Road