Spiders are a group of invertebrates that attract both fascination and fear. In the UK there are 647 spider species and of these, 390 species have been recorded in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, representing 60% of the British List.
Spiders can be found throughout Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly and have been recorded in every terrestrial 2 km2. Many spiders are very small and often go un-noticed and it has been estimated that an ungrazed meadow may support up to 4 million (4,000,000) spiders per hectare!
HOW TO IDENTIFY
Identification of spiders to species level without the opportunity to examine the specimen (specifically its genitalia) can be problematic, all the work we do is based on keys and diagrams to these features.
For further information on spiders the British Arachnological Society (BAS) has a lot of information on their website .
RECORDING GROUPS AND SCHEMES
ERCCIS encourages recording of spiders and further information on the National Spider Recording Scheme