Dictynidae

Meshweb spiders

ARACHNIDA > ARANEAE > Dictyidae

Apart from one much larger species, this family includes fourteen very small spiders that typically have a body length of no more than 3-4mm. The exception, is the Water Spider, Argyroneta aquatica, which unfortunately seems to be absent from my general area. There are a handful of old records, so perhaps it could turn up again, but realistically it's not one that I expect to find.

Similarly, with many of the remaining species as many are uncommon, nationally scarce or rare. In fact, there really are only three species that I'm likely to encounter and, more by chance than anything else, two of those are represented here.

There are a couple of attractive, uncommon or scarce species though that I would love to find. There are hardly any confirmed records locally, but that could simply be down to their small size. The first is Nigma puella, commonly known as the Bleeding Heart Spider, from the red cardiac mark on the female's abdomen. The other is Nigma walckenaeri, the Green Meshweb Spider, which is a tad larger than most of the other species with females up to 5mm.

All of these species spin small, intricately woven webs on plants or amongst leaf-litter or, as with the first individual I found, on tree leaves. Luckily it happened to be at eye-height alongside a boardwalk just where I was standing, otherwise I would never have seen it. In fact, I didn't even realise it was a spider at first as my eye was simply drawn to a patch of black specs before I realised that they were dead midges which had become entrapped in a rather messy web. Apparently, the fleecy silk that these spiders produce is prone to gathering dust and other tiny bits of debris, which is why they often look untidy. Somewhere within the construction the spider would have spun a retreat where it would sit and wait for prey, but I saw no evidence of one.

Formally named Dictyna latens, but now Brigittea latens, in the revised checklist (Lavery, 2019), this little spider can be identified by being much darker than the four remaining Dictyna species and with a distinctive although variable appearance. It's a common, albeit regional, species primarily found on heathland where it frequently occurs on heather and gorse.

The other two common and relatively abundant species are Dictyna arundinacea and the not dissimilar Dictyna uncinata. Unlike the previous species, these spiders are more likely to be found in vegetation bordering the edges of fields, woodland rides and paths, although the former can also occur on heathland. I found a number of Dictyna uncinata on the leaves of bushes alongside a canal path. Interestingly, they were all conveniently at about waist-height from the ground - higher than you'd expect to find Dictyna arundinacea according to the field guide. Both species have a dark brown to black carapace and variable mid to dark brown abdomen with a covering of short white hairs apart from the cardiac area, which is sometimes less defined in Dictyna uncinata. The distinguishing feature is that in Dictyna arundinacea the apical ends of the tarsi are darkened.