Just plain gorgeous!!!

YearsOfDecay

Arachnopeon
Joined
Oct 18, 2010
Messages
6
Okay, someone probably in the past has posted on here with regards to this little spider but here goes anyway!!!

This has, through captive breeding been brought back from near extinction here in the UK, and from what I'm led to believe, it's only the males that have this coloration and the females are larger and basically plain black in colour.

I give you......Eresus sandaliatus AKA:-The Ladybird Spider!!!

I can't take credit for the pics, I found them in the public domain on the web, was no mention of copyright on the images so should hopefully be okay putting up here





 

Ashphetamine

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 10, 2010
Messages
50
Wow! I never knew such a critter existed!

That truly is a work of Nature's power. Such an artist!!!

<3 imo- thats Nature's version of Van Gogh![sp?]
 

Salamanderhead

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Aug 30, 2009
Messages
410
They're probably nearly extinct because of that nice coloration. It really stands out.
 

YearsOfDecay

Arachnopeon
Joined
Oct 18, 2010
Messages
6
What makes even more dare I say it "cute" is the fact that these males only reach sizes of between 6-9mm :)
 

davisfam

Arachnoknight
Joined
Jul 19, 2010
Messages
287
Wowzaa, what a beauuutiful little spidiie! I just LOVE the vibrant red with those 'ladybug'-like dots and pattern. SOO neat! :p

Thanks for sharing, it's appreciated! :D
 

YearsOfDecay

Arachnopeon
Joined
Oct 18, 2010
Messages
6
It's around 11:15am here in the UK now so I'm off to go for a walk on this glorious autumn day up the common which used to be a USAF base back in the 80's, loads of scrub and the like up there, gonna take the camera and see what we can see in the way of spiders!!! Then it's back for around 2pm so I can watch NFL Gameday morning!!!! Bloody time differences lol!!!!! Will post if I get any nice pics, will be looking for them to be ID'd as my knowledge of "true" spiders is less than zero lol!!!!
 

Moltar

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 11, 2007
Messages
5,438
Yes, they have been posted before but wow, they sure are beautiful, eh? Another interesting factoid is that although they look like jumping spiders (minus the big eyes) they are actually fairly large. I've seen video of one that was bigger than 1" DLS, maybe even 2".
 
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Malhavoc's

Arachnoking
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 12, 2003
Messages
2,837
are they sexualy dimorphic? males being smaller and more vibrant? *goes to googling*
 

EXOPET

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 19, 2009
Messages
127
the females can be very large compared to the males, up to 30mm body length and they live for up to four years or so. They are communal (males and females living with their offspring until the offspring disperse) and they don't do well in wet conditions (which is why they are so rare here)

Eresus cinnaberinus is almost identical and is no longer considered threatened and hails from Spain etc. They can be reasonably aggressive (usually not though) and can be kept comfortably in a 6 inch cube container.

they are related to salticids, which accounts for the similar looks.
 

jsloan

Arachnoangel
Old Timer
Joined
Jun 22, 2004
Messages
972
they are related to salticids, which accounts for the similar looks.
What's your source for this? According to the phylogenetic tree in Spiders of North America (page 20) they are not very closely related. I kept eresids when I lived in Egypt (different species from these), and I'd say any resemblance between this family and salticids is superficial at best. The eyes are very different, for example; eresids build webs for catching prey, whereas salticids do not; eresids are cribellate spiders, salticids are not, etc.
 

bluefrogtat2

Arachnoangel
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 19, 2006
Messages
913
all the erusus males are very impressive
albopictus male i used to have

next to female

andy
 
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