The Hot-house Spider Achaearanea tepidariorum (C.L.Koch 1841) underground at Brodsworth Colliery, South Yorkshire.
Considering the large numbers of Yorkshire naturalists who have worked underground in the coal and other mining industries, there are very few published studies of organisms from these specialist subterranean environments. It is relevant therefore to place on record the following note.
On 13 December 1963 E.F. Gilmour, Curator of Doncaster Museum (1952 to 1967) received from Dr. R.W. Scott, Area Medical Officer for the National Coal Board (Yorkshire Division No. 2 Area (Doncaster)), ‘samples of a small spider-like insect’ which were ‘infesting’ a localised area underground in Brodsworth Colliery, Doncaster (VC 63. SE/5207). An annotation on the reverse of the accompanying letter, initialed by Dr Scott, said ‘My guess? Spider Beetle – Ptinidae’. This was counter annotated in Gilmour’s hand ‘No! Not Insecta … 8 legs!’
Attached to the letter is a note, in the writing of T.M. Clegg (Keeper of Natural Sciences at Doncaster Museum 1963 to 1966), identifying the specimens as the so called ‘Hot-house spider’ Theridion tepidariorum [= Achaearanea tepidariorum (C.L. Koch 1841)] and Theridion denticulatum [= T. melanurum Hahn, 1831]. Appropriately the specimens were collected at a site which, even in the notoriously cold December of 1963, registered a temperature of around. 80oF. Clegg’s identifications were presumably based on Locket and Millidge (1953) which was available to him in the museum library.
Bristowe (1939) noted that although T. tepidariorum had been found in coal mines in Douchy, France, it had not previously been recorded in British mines. First recorded in Yorkshire in 1896, William Falconer (1862-1943) knew T. tepidariorum from 14 Yorkshire sites between 1918 and 1922, all confined to heated greenhouses. Clifford Smith (1982) plotted Falconer’s and later records in the following eight 10km squares: NZ/80, TA/08, 02, 12, SE/13, 11, 33, 94, the most recent record being from 1935. Paul Lee’s (2002a) review of its British status describes it as an introduced synanthropic species typically found in buildings such as heated greenhouses, widespread in England but with few records in Wales and north of Yorkshire. The distribution map in Lee (2002a) only shows one post 1980 record for Yorkshire, this from the Leeds grid square SE/33. It is however widespread in western and central Europe.
Reviewing the national status of T. melanurum, Lee (2002b) describes it as a synanthropic species constructing its webs in and around buildings where it obtains the majority of is water requirements through its prey and so is able to withstand the arid environment of a modern centrally heated house. Smith (1982) recorded its presence in eighteen 10km squares in all Yorkshire vice counties, these, however, represent some of its most northerly British sites since Lee (2002b) shows it as absent or very restricted north of Yorkshire.
Bristowe (1939) noted that the only records of spiders in British coalmines at the time were Lessertia dentichelis Simon 1884 at Niddry, Scotland and Watergate Colliery, Durham and Porrhomma proserpina Simon 1884. [= P. convexum (Westring, 1851)]. from Pelton, Durham. The Watergate Colliery specimens, collected for Bristowe by the colliery manager, were present in great abundance at a depth of 500-600ft. He reported that in places their webs covered the walls in festoons. Similarly the P. proserpina colony at Pelton consisted of the webs of many spiders, connected in such a way as to suggest they existed communally.
The authors would welcome records, anecdotes or expressions of interest from anyone interested in compiling data on this apparently neglected aspect of Yorkshire’s biodiversity.
References
Howes, C.A. and Limbert, M. (2010) The Hot House Spider Achaearanea tepidariorum (C.L. Koch 1841) Underground at Brodsworth Colliery, South Yorkshire. Naturalist 135: 131-132.
Bristowe, W.S. (1939) The Comity of Spiders. Vol.1 Ray Soc. London.
Lee, P. (2002a) Achaearanea tepidariorum. In Harvey, P. R., Nellist, D. R. and
Telfer, M. G. (eds.) Provisional Atlas of British Spiders (Arachnida, Aranaea)
Vol. 1 Biological Records Centre, Huntingdon. (p. 48).
Lee, P. (2002b) Theridion melanurum. In Harvey, P. R., Nellist, D. R. and
Telfer, M. G. (eds.) Provisional Atlas of British Spiders (Arachnida, Aranaea)
Vol. 1 Biological Records Centre, Huntingdon (p. 54).
Locket, G.H. and Millidge, A.F. (1953) British Spiders Vol. 2. Ray Society, London.
Smith, C. J. (1982) An atlas of Yorkshire spiders. Private Publication, York.