Britain's Spiders: A Field Guide - Fully Revised and Updated Second Edition
A comprehensively updated edition of an identification guide that was named a Guardian Best Nature Book of the Year

Now in a comprehensively revised and updated new edition, Britain’s Spiders is a guide to all 38 of the British families, focussing on spiders that can be identified in the field. Illustrated with a remarkable collection of photographs, it is designed to be accessible to a wide audience, including those new to spider identification. This book pushes the boundaries of field identification for this challenging group, combining information on features that can be seen with the naked eye or a hand lens with additional evidence from webs, egg sacs, behaviour, phenology, habitats and distributions. Individual accounts cover 404 species—all of Britain’s “macro” spiders and the larger money spiders, with the limitations to field identification clearly explained. This new edition includes nine species new to Britain, many recent name changes, updated distribution maps and species information, new guides to help identify spider families and distinctive species, and the latest species checklist.

  • A guide to spider families, based on features recognizable in the field, focussing on body shape and other characteristics, as well as separate guides to webs and egg-sacs
  • Detailed accounts and more than 700 stunning photographs highlight key identification features for each genus and species, and include information on status, behaviour and habitats
  • Up-to-date distribution maps, and charts showing adult seasonality
  • Introductory chapters on the biology of spiders, and where, when and how to find them, including equipment needed in the field
  • A complete list of the spiders recorded in Britain, indicating the ease of identification as well as rarity and conservation status
  • Information on how to record spiders and make your records count, and guidance on how to take your interest further
  • New to this edition: coverage of nine species new to Britain, updated species information and distribution maps, identification guides to spider families and distinctive species, and the latest species checklist
1136580261
Britain's Spiders: A Field Guide - Fully Revised and Updated Second Edition
A comprehensively updated edition of an identification guide that was named a Guardian Best Nature Book of the Year

Now in a comprehensively revised and updated new edition, Britain’s Spiders is a guide to all 38 of the British families, focussing on spiders that can be identified in the field. Illustrated with a remarkable collection of photographs, it is designed to be accessible to a wide audience, including those new to spider identification. This book pushes the boundaries of field identification for this challenging group, combining information on features that can be seen with the naked eye or a hand lens with additional evidence from webs, egg sacs, behaviour, phenology, habitats and distributions. Individual accounts cover 404 species—all of Britain’s “macro” spiders and the larger money spiders, with the limitations to field identification clearly explained. This new edition includes nine species new to Britain, many recent name changes, updated distribution maps and species information, new guides to help identify spider families and distinctive species, and the latest species checklist.

  • A guide to spider families, based on features recognizable in the field, focussing on body shape and other characteristics, as well as separate guides to webs and egg-sacs
  • Detailed accounts and more than 700 stunning photographs highlight key identification features for each genus and species, and include information on status, behaviour and habitats
  • Up-to-date distribution maps, and charts showing adult seasonality
  • Introductory chapters on the biology of spiders, and where, when and how to find them, including equipment needed in the field
  • A complete list of the spiders recorded in Britain, indicating the ease of identification as well as rarity and conservation status
  • Information on how to record spiders and make your records count, and guidance on how to take your interest further
  • New to this edition: coverage of nine species new to Britain, updated species information and distribution maps, identification guides to spider families and distinctive species, and the latest species checklist
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Britain's Spiders: A Field Guide - Fully Revised and Updated Second Edition

Britain's Spiders: A Field Guide - Fully Revised and Updated Second Edition

Britain's Spiders: A Field Guide - Fully Revised and Updated Second Edition

Britain's Spiders: A Field Guide - Fully Revised and Updated Second Edition

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Overview

A comprehensively updated edition of an identification guide that was named a Guardian Best Nature Book of the Year

Now in a comprehensively revised and updated new edition, Britain’s Spiders is a guide to all 38 of the British families, focussing on spiders that can be identified in the field. Illustrated with a remarkable collection of photographs, it is designed to be accessible to a wide audience, including those new to spider identification. This book pushes the boundaries of field identification for this challenging group, combining information on features that can be seen with the naked eye or a hand lens with additional evidence from webs, egg sacs, behaviour, phenology, habitats and distributions. Individual accounts cover 404 species—all of Britain’s “macro” spiders and the larger money spiders, with the limitations to field identification clearly explained. This new edition includes nine species new to Britain, many recent name changes, updated distribution maps and species information, new guides to help identify spider families and distinctive species, and the latest species checklist.

  • A guide to spider families, based on features recognizable in the field, focussing on body shape and other characteristics, as well as separate guides to webs and egg-sacs
  • Detailed accounts and more than 700 stunning photographs highlight key identification features for each genus and species, and include information on status, behaviour and habitats
  • Up-to-date distribution maps, and charts showing adult seasonality
  • Introductory chapters on the biology of spiders, and where, when and how to find them, including equipment needed in the field
  • A complete list of the spiders recorded in Britain, indicating the ease of identification as well as rarity and conservation status
  • Information on how to record spiders and make your records count, and guidance on how to take your interest further
  • New to this edition: coverage of nine species new to Britain, updated species information and distribution maps, identification guides to spider families and distinctive species, and the latest species checklist

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780691204741
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Publication date: 11/03/2020
Series: WILDGuides , #35
Pages: 496
Product dimensions: 5.87(w) x 8.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Lawrence Bee is an ecological consultant and educator and the author of the Field Studies Council's Guide to House and Garden Spiders. Geoff Oxford, a biologist who taught at the University of York for more than four decades, is an authority on spider colour variation and speciation. Helen Smith is a conservation biologist who leads the conservation programme for the UK’s endangered Fen Raft Spider. This book is produced in collaboration with the British Arachnological Society, of which all three authors are active members.

Table of Contents

Foreword 5

Introduction 7

Spider anatomy-naming the parts 12

Glossary 14

Spider biology 22

Anatomy - a brief overview 20

Silk production 21

Webs 23

Retreats 26

Courtship and mating 26

Egg-sacs 31

Development and growth 32

Dispersal 33

Longevity 35

Parasites 35

Food capture and feeding 36

Coloration 40

Spiders and people 41

When, where and how to find spiders 43

Essential equipment 45

Additional equipment 46

Collecting techniques 47

Identifying Spiders

Guide to spider families and genera 70

Guide to webs 108

Guide to egg-sacs 121

Introduction to the species accounts 134

The Species Accounts (see also the following two pages) 136-442

Accidental imports 443

Working in the field 445

Recording spiders 446

Legislation and conservation 448

Legislation 448

Red Lists 449

British Rarity Status 450

Amber List 450

List of British spiders 451

Further reading and useful websites 478

The British Arachnological Society 481

Acknowledgements and photographic credits 482

Index 487

Alphabetical list of genera with species accounts 496

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“This is a guide that will revolutionise the study of British spiders, allowing confident field identification of many species and encouraging a new cohort of natural historians to take a closer look at these extraordinary creatures.”—Peter Smithers, Antenna (Royal Entomological Society)

“One reason arachnids are so misunderstood is a general lack of decent field guides to teach us anything about them, a gap this book fills with aplomb.”Ross Piper, BBC Wildlife

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