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Welcome to our general Forum page. Please feel free to post a comment on any issue or topic area - you must log-on to do this. If you upload a picture, it will be available for you to insert here with your post. You can send a message or ask a question about British spider identification here. If your query is about spiders from other parts of the World, please find another forum, we are unable to help. You will need to register and be logged-on to post to the forum. Find out more and Help adding forum posts. You will find some helper toolbar buttons in the add post and post editor, as well as your most recently uploaded pictures as toolbar buttons. Click on the toolbar picture to add it to your post. IF YOU WANT HELP WITH IDENTIFICATION, PLEASE PROVIDE A FULL POSTCODE OR GRID REFERENCE AND DATE of the record in your post so that it can be added to the recording scheme.
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Tue 27th April 2021 12:52 by Geoff Oxford
Dear Robert, As Peter Harvey remarked on the previous posting, these species of Eratigena can only reliably be told apart by microscopical examination. However, because in southern England E. duellica is the predominant species east of Dorset, and E. saeva the predominant species west of Dorset (see BAS factsheet at: https://britishspiders.org.uk/sites/default/files/2020-08/House_spider_preview_rev18.pdf) it is highly likely that your specimen is E. duellica. Geoff
Tue 27th April 2021 11:03 by Robert Anscombe
Impressive patterned and sized spider
Mon 26th April 2021 11:30 by Peter Harvey
This is one of the larger house spiders Tegenaria / Eratigena species. They can't be identified to species without examination under a microscope, but they are harmless and occur in or near most buildings in the country.
Mon 26th April 2021 09:59 by Carmen Nevin
Help in identifying this little beauty please
Thu 22nd April 2021 18:22 by Peter Harvey
I would say most likely an immature P cespitum, form with pale coloured dorsal abdomen, but all aureolus group can only be done with microscopical examination of adults, and even then may be misidentified by recorders unfamiliar with the complexity of the issues involved (note difficult species guidance).
Thu 22nd April 2021 09:23 by Geoff Oxford
Dear Giles, confirmation of most Philodromus species requires microscopic examination. However it is very unlikely to be P. rufus, which is only reported from the London region and the Thames corridor. Geoff
Wed 21st April 2021 23:55 by Giles Hearn
Spider ID help
Thu 15th April 2021 17:47 by Martin Cooper
re: Yellow-striped spider
Thanks for confirming species, Peter. I've edited date thanks to you spotting my earlier typo. I'll have a go at adding this spider to the recording scheme. Martin
Wed 14th April 2021 19:10 by Peter Harvey
Yes Mangora acalypha, I presume you mean 9 June 2020, we haven't quite got to June 2021 yet!
Wed 14th April 2021 11:20 by Martin Cooper
Yellow-striped spider for ID please
I would appreciate help identifying this yellow-striped spider photographed in my garden (Ipswich, TM166450) on 9 June 2020. A member of a Facebook spider group suggested that it may be Mangora acalypha and there are some similar-looking photos of that species on the eurospiders web site.
Martin Cooper




Fri 2nd April 2021 13:52 by Peter Harvey
Figures of Megalepthyphantyes nebulosus are available in Roberts and there are figures of M. collinus, which is very similar to our taxon, available on the Spiders of Europe website
and if you email me at I can send you drawings of the palp and epigyne drawn by our national expert Peter Merrett. Figures on the internet and in publications are always done of spiders in 70% alcohol, and can look very different in air due to the 3-dimensional nature of the structures and refractive indices of air and alcohol. If you are a beginner at identication of spiders and Linyphiidae, you would need to get confirmation from an experienced specialist, and membership of the British Arachnological Society is to be strongly recommended.

Fri 2nd April 2021 02:17 by Paul Rule
Re: possibly Megalepthypantes species near collinus
Thank you Peter, If I manage to capture an adult what am I looking for? there seems to be zero info in helping to ID it on the web.
Thu 1st April 2021 11:51 by Peter Harvey
A linyphiid, possibly Megalepthypantes species near collinus, which I found new to Britain in 1999 at the bottom of undercliffs on the Isle of Sheppey, but which has subequently spread widely in the south-east and in recent years much further afield to the southwest and northwards. It requires microscopical examination of adults for identification.
Thu 1st April 2021 10:31 by Paul Rule
ID help for this distinctive looking spider
Thu 1st April 2021 10:22 by Peter Harvey
Clubiona species, probably reclusa but you can't do all but one or two Clubiona without microscopical examination of the adult male palp or female epigyne.
The Araniella is very unlikely to be displicata, juvenile and subadult Araniella are frequently reddish in coloration. It would need to be reared through to maturity and examined under a microscope.
Thu 1st April 2021 09:51 by Paul Davis
Heathland spider for ID help.
Thu 1st April 2021 09:45 by Paul Davis
Help with Clubiona species
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