Eresus sandaliatus

Taxobox
name = "Eresus sandaliatus"


image_width = 250px
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Arthropoda
classis = Arachnida
ordo = Araneae
subordo = Araneomorphae
familia = Eresidae
genus = "Eresus"
species = "E. sandaliatus"
binomial = "Eresus sandaliatus"
binomial_authority = (Martini & Goeze, 1778)
range_

---

range_map_width = 250px
synonyms = "Aranea sandaliata"
"Aranea purpurata"
"Eresus annulatus"
"Erythrophorus annulatus"

"Eresus sandaliatus" is a species of spider found primarily in northern and central Europe. Like other species of the genus "Eresus", it is commonly called Ladybird spider because of the coloration of the male.

Description

Male "E. sandaliatus" are generally 6-9mm (a little bit smaller than "E. cinnaberinus") and characterized by a bright orange back featuring four large and two small ebony spots. White hairs are never present on the back, and legs always lack red hairs. In contrast, the females are 10-16mm and jet-black.

Habits

Males enter the adult stage in early September, but overwinter in their webs and search for females only in May or June of the next year. Otherwise, this species is very similar to "E. cinnaberinus". After the 35-80 eggs hatch, the spiderlings receive a liquid from the mouth of the female. The female later seems to digest its own body, which leads to her death a few days later. The spiderlings then suck on the mother. The next spring they leave the web and build their own in close vicinity.Bellmann, H. (1997). Kosmos-Atlas Spinnentiere Europas. "Kosmos".]

Distribution

"E. sandaliatus" is native to Europe, from England and southern Norway to northern Italy. It has to date never been found in the same place as "E. cinnaberinus".

Conservation

It is classified as endangered by the British Red Data Book and hence protected under the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act.

In 1993 it was estimated that only about 50 individual ladybird spiders were left in Britain, mainly due to deprivation of an appropriate habitat. In 2000, however, over 600 separate ladybird spiders were counted, probably owing to the efforts of English Nature's Species Recovery Programme and affiliated operations.

References

* [http://www.arkive.org/species/ARK/invertebrates_terrestrial_and_freshwater/Eresus_sandaliatus/more_info.html ARKive: "Ladybird spider"] , 2004. Retrieved January 14, 2006.
* [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11678993&dopt=Abstract Population history of Eresus cinnaberinus (Araneae: Eresidae) colour variants at a putative species transition] , abstract at PubMed