Website forms and recoiding
PETER HARVEY
32 Lodge Lane, Grays, Essex RM16 2YP
Introduction
Since 2002 we have included information and pictures on the Essex Field Club website at
www.essexficldclub.org.uk about a number of species that arc relatively easy for non-specialists to
recognise, with forms for people to submit their records or observations. The following report
represents a more detailed analysis of the results of the records submitted than discussed in the
September 2004 Newsletter (Harvey 2004). A more detailed analysis seems worthwhile because
many useful and valuable records liave been received from members of the public that might
otherwise not have been involved in recording our wildlife. At the same time some of the pitfalls of
non-specialist identification of even 'easily recognisable' species are evident, as well as some
indication of what kind of wildlife gets people's attention.
Species selected
The species chosen so far (see table p. 14) liave either been ones found in houses or gardens that
are under-recorded in the county, such as the Zebra Spider Salticus scenicus, the Daddy-longlegs
Spider Pholcus phalangioides, the Woodlouse Spider Dysdera crocata, the Dark-edged Bee-fly
Bombylius major and the Hairy-footed Flower Bee Anthophora plumipes, and/or where surveys
are currently being undertaken in the county or nationally e.g. for the Stag Beetle Lucanus cervus.
Lily Beetle Lilioceris lilii, ladybirds (Coccinellidae), Tiger Beetle Cicindela campestris, the
froghopper Cercopis vulnerata (Plate 3) and Slow-worm Anguis fragilis.
Quality of resultant data
For the 22 species so far with website recording fonns, there have been very few instances of
definite or probable misidentification. Photographs often support records submitted, or if there is
any doubt about the identification then a photograph or voucher is requested. The worst offender
has been the small green cribellate spider Nigma walckenaeri, a Nationally Scarce species confined
in Britain to the Thames and Severn Valleys, but widespread in gardens and parks in London and
south Essex near the Thames. Despite warnings about other green spiders and information to help
avoid confusion, in every case forms submitted have turned out to be different species!
Another species where a photograph or voucher specimen has generally been required to back up
records is the Noble False-widow spider Steatoda nobilis (Plate 4), partly because national publicity
has made much of the species' implication in spider bites. This has resulted in any bite assumed to
result from a spider being blamed on S. nobilis regardless of what the spider actually looks like or
any real evidence. I have even had email correspondence where a doctor is said to have identified
S. nobilis from the 2 puncture marks on the skin resulting (possibly) from a spider bite!
In Britain there are two species of Woodlouse Spider, Dysdera crocata and D. erythrina. Microscopic
examination of adults is necessary for certain identification, and even then there is evidence nationally
that misidentification takes place. D. erythrina is essentially a species of heathland, old grasslands
and old undisturbed shingle habitats, whereas D. crocata is a species found in disturbed habitats
12
Essex Naturalist (New Series) 21 (2004)