Welcome To
Arachnid Corner
In Britain alone, there are 38 Families of spider and about 130 worldwide. There are also many other arachnids in the world, but they don't fall into the Spider Order. Yet they all come under the same Class, Arachnida. Some of the other examples are the likes of harvestmen and scorpions, along with those annoying little ticks.
My love of spiders runs deep, and I enjoy watching the way they hunt and feed. I love witnessing them create their intricate webs and traps, and am captivated by the mating rituals they have. Spiders are some of the most fascinating creatures there are. Each Family and even Species are different. They all vary in how they catch food to how they look after their young, not to mention the rest of their habits and traits.
In Arachnid corner, you will find photographs I have taken of the differing British spider Species I have found, along with information about where to find them, what Family they belong to, or where I have documented them. I keep a detailed record of where they have been spotted and what they were doing at any given time.
The information sheet has a photo next to some of the Families, but even so you must remember that there are many different Genera within each Family. When a new photo is added, it will give the Genera and Species name, giving the name of the spider itself, but I will also add which Family it belongs to. There is an example below to show you how this classification works.
The 37 Spider Families found here in Britain.
Below is an example of how wide and varied a Family can be.
Both the species below belong to Pisauridae (Nurseryweb spiders) Yet are in different Genera within it. As you can see, when the list get to Genus, they separate.
Pisaura mirabilis
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Arthropoda
Subphylum:Chelicerata
Class:Arachnida
Order:Araneae
Infraorder:Araneomorphae
Family:Pisauridae
Genus:Pisaura
Species:
P. mirabilis
Dolomedes fimbriatus
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Arthropoda
Subphylum:Chelicerata
Class:Arachnida
Order:Araneae
Infraorder:Araneomorphae
Family:Pisauridae
Genus:Dolomedes
Species:
D. fimbriatus
How Spiders
are named
Spiders can be found throughout many environments all over the planet, and are excellent hunters. They are most identifiable from one another by the structure of their eyes.
It is also good to remember, that despite all the scare mongering that takes place about spiders around the world and the fear that is spread about them, primarily by tabloid newspapers. The majority of spiders you will come into contact with, can't harm you, and those that potentially could are unlikely to do so.
Here in the UK we don't have any spiders that are considered medically significant, which essentially means their venom isn't harmful to us. There are reports people have made about having to take antibiotics after a false widow bite, but this has nothing to do with venom and is caused by an infection, which can be caused by any arachnid or insect bite if the wound is not properly cleaned.
Spiders are incredible and important creatures, and are to be respected and admired. Please check out the Photo Gallery below with information about each photo