Uloborus plumipes
Uloborus plumipes
Males 3 to 4 mm, females 4 to 6 mm. Densely hairy, legs brown, annulated with white-bluish. Tibia I female: with strikingly long, black plumose hairs. Opisthosoma light brown with darker median line, densely haired, dorsally with 2 humps in anterior part, 2 white spots between them. At rest the spider resembles a small piece of dried vegetation. It spins a horizontal web up to 30cm across (smaller if space is restricted).
Clear photos showing distinctive shape required.
Heated greenhouses and garden centres. Believed to have been imported from The Netherlands on plants and able to survive in greenhouses where the winter temperature is maintained above freezing. In this habitat it appears to be playing an effective role in controlling whitefly.
Year round.
Females outnumber the slightly smaller males, which are cryptic and difficult to find. The egg-sacs, varying from dark brown to pale cream in colour, are characteristically star-shaped.
Common in garden centres.
Under-recorded in Leicestershire and Rutland.
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Additional images
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