Heather wheel spider
| Heather wheel spider | ||||||||||||
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Heather wheel spider, female |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Neoscona adianta | ||||||||||||
| ( Walckenaer , 1802) |
The heather wheel spider ( Neoscona adianta ) is a species of spider from the family of real orb web spiders (Araneidae). It is the only species of the genus Neoscona in northern Central Europe, here largely restricted to the lowlands and not common.
features
Heather wheel spiders are quite small orb web spiders. The females reach a body length of 5.5 to 7.0 mm, the males 4.0-5.0 mm. In both sexes, the front body ( prosoma ) has a black central stripe and a narrow black border on a yellowish-brown background. The legs are yellowish brown and ringed dark. The abdomen ( opisthosoma ) is variably gray, yellowish-brown or reddish on the upper side and shows in the middle a narrow, multiple narrowed lancet spot, which is bordered by two broad, on the outside multiple strongly outwardly curved, light longitudinal bands; these are in turn lined with wide black. The back drawing is similar to that of the oak leaf wheel spider ( Aculepeira ceropegia ), but the white bands of the heather wheel spider are usually interrupted in the area of the indentations and the bulges are more rounded.
distribution and habitat
The distribution area of the heather-wheel spider covers large parts of the southern Palearctic and extends in an east-west direction from Ireland and Portugal via North Africa and most of Europe to the east to Japan and Taiwan . In a north-south direction the area of the species extends from Norway, Sweden and the Baltic States to North Africa and further east from southern Siberia to Iran , India , the Nicobar Islands and the Mariana Islands . The distribution area includes the temperate , the Mediterranean and the northern edge of the tropical zone. The species is absent in Europe in northern Scandinavia as well as in Finland. In Germany, the species is apparently largely limited to the lowlands in the north and the climatically favored south-west of the country and is generally not found frequently.
The species lives in open and warm areas in Central Europe, above all Calluna heaths and moor margins, and lives there mainly in the herbaceous layer.
Way of life
The very inconspicuous and fine-meshed nets are mostly built close to the ground. During the day, the animals usually sit in a hiding place next to the net. Sexually mature animals can be found in July and August.
Danger
The species is only locally distributed in Central Europe and is not common. In Germany, it is classified as “endangered” in the Red List . The main endangerment factors are discontinuations or changes in use of the open habitats required by the species.
literature
- Heiko Bellmann : Cosmos Atlas Arachnids of Europe . 3rd edition, Kosmos, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 978-3-440-10746-1 : pp. 114-115
- Ralph Platen, Bodo von Broen, Andreas Herrmann, Ulrich M. Ratschker, Peter Sacher: Total species list and red list of spiders, harvestmen and pseudoscorpions of the state of Brandenburg (Arachnida: Araneae, Opiliones, Pseudoscorpiones) with information on frequency and ecology. Nature conservation and landscape management in Brandenburg 8, booklet 2 (supplement); 1999.
Web links
Neoscona adianta in the World Spider Catalog
- W. Nentwig , A. Hänggi, C. Kropf & T. Blick (Eds.): Spinnen Mitteleuropas - Identification key, genus Neoscona. [1]