how to find purseweb spiders??

[saltyscissors]

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ok so, ive been looking for Atypus affinis for god knows how bloody long now and i was wondering if there are any tips to finding them? where their pursewebs generally are? if theyre even in north east England anymore?:wall: the fact i cant find any is unbelievably stressing. i've read that european species generally have pursewebs that go across the ground, rather than up a tree or fence. and if i actually find one, what substrate should i use, what amount of substrate, how much room, if there should be grass, leaves or anything in the enclosure, or if they simply dont do well in captivity.
thanks!

 

[Deroplatys]

I looked into finding them once and i think i remember that their only found down south west
I browsed these photo's and some of them say where they were found

http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=Atypus affinis&w=all

 

[saltyscissors]

aw man that sucks yo
i think im going to cornwall next year and that should raise the chances of me finding a pursie drastically
but dam
next year......fc....:8o
EDIT: wow, 22mm A. affinis? that's impossible! i hope not anyway, but holy crap, thats a VERY large pursie!:drool: :drool:

 

[Bastian Drolshagen]

hi,
they´re very hard to spot. First time I found them I drove to an area they are supposed to occur at and crouched around on the ground until I found a webbing

 

[saltyscissors]

hi,
they´re very hard to spot. First time I found them I drove to an area they are supposed to occur at and crouched around on the ground until I found a webbing

any recommended places to go looking for them? i.e devon, kent, cornwall, sussex?

 

[Bastian Drolshagen]

Hi,
actually, I don´t know where those can be found in your area (I´m from Germany).
I found A. piceus in a rather dry place in a warm valley near a larger river. The soil is sandy and there´re only few bushes.
A. affinis occurs in more damp areas (e.g. banks in woods).
HERE you can find pictures of an A. affinis habitat.

EDIT:

Roberts (1985, 1996) mentions that A. affinis occcurs in southern England, but has also been recorded from Scotland.

I recommend looking for fitting habitats rather than for a special region.

Literature:

Roberts, M.J. (1985) The Spiders of Great Britain and Ireland. Volume 1: Atypidae - Theridiosomatidae. Harley Books, Colchester. Online here

Roberts, M.J. (1996) Spiders of Britain and Northern Europe. HarperCollins Publishers, London.

 

[Bastian Drolshagen]

also check THIS LINK for distribution of A. affinis

 

[saltyscissors]

crumpets! in that thread, on the german forum, i saw a little area in scotland exactly like that like a tiny cliff. if only i had known. helpful though, and the distribution map. guess theyre very common near sussex:drool:

 

[Bastian Drolshagen]

good luck finding them and don´t forget to post some pictures

 

[saltyscissors]

good luck finding them and don´t forget to post some pictures

if i find one, that is. im going on a forest trip on either this saturday or sunday coming, so ill have a real search for them. ill be looking for Marpissa muscosa too, they build their nests under rotting tree bark.

 

[Deroplatys]

Found one of those in a garden centre earlier this summer, thought it was a platycryptus lol
As for the pursewebbs im going to bournemouth for a day tomorrow, i wonder if their down there

 

[Deroplatys]

Thanks for that link by the way, just been looking at it and yep im heading for purse web and wasp spider country

 

[Bastian Drolshagen]

hi,
is M.muscosa this rare at your location? I usually don´t find them, they find me. Last one I saw while sitting on the balcony (2nd floor) drinking coffee - it ran over the table.
If you´re really looking for M. muscosa try to find some meadows with old wooden fence posts. They usually sit on those posts
You can also find them on the bark of oaks (and sometimes also other trees).
Recently I was sweeping in a meadow and found Oxyopes ramosus and Marpissa nivoyi - best finds this summer (apart from Walkenaeria antica in a pitfall trap).

Argiope bruennichi is very common here and can be found in the parks near the center of the city and in the suburban area.
If you´re looking for those try to find some "holes" in higher grown meadows, they build their web in app. 10-30cm above the ground.

 

[saltyscissors]

yeah, M. muscosa are quite rare up here. never found one, but jumping-spiders.com and wikipedia say it is widespread but uncommon in Britain
and isnt A. bruennichi endangered? atleast in Britain..

 

[Bastian Drolshagen]

hi,
they´re not really rare here.
A. bruennichi is not really endangered in Germany..
But I´m blessed to live in one of the warmest regions of the country and therefore always find species that are not really common in other areas.

 

[saltyscissors]

indeed you are blessed to live in an area full of spiders i would almost call exotic!
do A. affinis do well in captivity? is it hard to adjust the enclosure so that they feel comfortable making a web?

 

[Bastian Drolshagen]

hi,
I never tried to keep A. affinis, but tbh, A. piceus do not very well in captivity. Actually I´d recommend to keep them in small version of Haplopelma-tanks. They usually burrow app. 30 cm deep and build a 10-15 tube on the surface. The soil should be dry on the surface and the deeper the spider burrows the moist it should become.
If you don´t necessarily have to see your spider then you can try to set up a fishtank with 20cm substrate (sandy!!) and keep some Atypus in it (larger tanks are easier to adjust in regards to humidity; at least in my opinion), as they also live in colonies in the wild. A 50-60cm tank should perfectly do for 3-5 females (the burrows I found so far were built app. 10-30cm away from each other).
Another spider I found along with A. piceus is Eresus kollari and those do quite well in captivity. It seems they prefer the soil to be more dry (maybe connected to their habits - they burrow max. 10 cm) and even if their tank is completely dry for weeks they don´t bother.

 

[Deroplatys]

Wish i had an Eresus sp
Anway im back, no luck

 

[saltyscissors]

hi,
I never tried to keep A. affinis, but tbh, A. piceus do not very well in captivity. Actually I´d recommend to keep them in small version of Haplopelma-tanks. They usually burrow app. 30 cm deep and build a 10-15 tube on the surface. The soil should be dry on the surface and the deeper the spider burrows the moist it should become.
If you don´t necessarily have to see your spider then you can try to set up a fishtank with 20cm substrate (sandy!!) and keep some Atypus in it (larger tanks are easier to adjust in regards to humidity; at least in my opinion), as they also live in colonies in the wild. A 50-60cm tank should perfectly do for 3-5 females (the burrows I found so far were built app. 10-30cm away from each other).
Another spider I found along with A. piceus is Eresus kollari and those do quite well in captivity. It seems they prefer the soil to be more dry (maybe connected to their habits - they burrow max. 10 cm) and even if their tank is completely dry for weeks they don´t bother.

wait, by "do not very well in captivity" do you mean "do not do very well in captivity" or "do very well in captivity"? thanks for the advice on keeping a purseweb, anyway. ill keep you guys updated if i find one. oh and E. kollari is endangered over here.

 

[Bastian Drolshagen]

hi,
I ment they do not live very long in captivity. Dunno why...

E. kollari is endangered here aswell.