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Photo: G. Bradley
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UK
Safari Tip:
To help you identify house and garden spiders there's a beautifully
illustrated fold out chart in the Nature Shop - click
here
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Latin name: Agelena labyrinthica
Size: Up to 18mms long
Distribution: Found in Wales and England, especially in the south.
Months seen: June to October
Food: Flies and other small insects
Habitat: Found in long, rough grass and low down on trees and shrubs
Special features: The abdomen of the labyrinth spider features a central
pale brown stripe with a darker, more greyish band on either side. The darker
bands have tiny white dashes or chevron markings running through them.
 Labyrinth spiders produce a sheet web. It's so
thick in places that it appears white in colour.
The web can be at ground level or up to 1.5 metres from the ground. The majority
are found around 60cms from the ground. They are nearly always built along a
south facing hedgerow, verge or grassy bank.
 At one end
there is a funnel shaped retreat, which can cause alarm
because it is sometimes confused with other more dangerous funnel web spiders. Further down the funnel is the labyrinth of tunnels which gives this spider its
name.
 If you could find your way through the tunnels you would eventually find
the reason for this mysterious construction. Hidden in the centre is the egg sac
containing all the developing young.
The females remains with the young until they are ready to leave the labyrinth.
Sometimes she dies before they leave, and in this case the young will eat their
mother.
UK Safari Spider Section
UK Safari Creepy-Crawlies Section
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