Worcestershire Record No. 5 Nov 1998 p. 17

RECORDS FOR PHOLCUS PHALANGIOIDES, THE DADDY LONGLEGS SPIDER 1998

John Partridge

Many thanks to all those people who have sent in records is response to my appeal. When I started this search, we had three county records, and I had expected to find some sort of north-south divide in the distribution. As you can see from the map, there is probably not a divide at all, with the spider being distributed all over the county, although we still need more records to show this convincingly. As well as being found in houses, we have records from a school, two pubs, a garden centre, and Stanbrook Abbey - so there are plenty of places to look. If we have recorders in the empty areas, please keep your eyes open, or I may have to go on a prolonged tour of public houses to fill in the gaps! Some evidence has appeared that the spider can travel in furniture, having been found in a desk, and under a table.

Thanks to David Oakley for the only county record of Scytodes thoracica, in Redditch in 1971. No reports have been received of any of the other spiders listed in the last newsletter (April 1998).

Please send your records to me: John Partridge.