10-Legged Spider found in Kent...

We start this update with a recent newspaper clipping...

Yes, this is the BIG news that I have discovered a ten-legged spider. It was a huge story right across all media...

Even made the main CNN bulletin!

Oh yes...I have become a huge celebrity now you know: you are no longer fit to tug at the hem of my garment.

However, as we have known each other for quite a while now, I feel it wouldn't be beneath me to share the full, unexpurgated story with you. Here goes:

There is no story! 

I just found a spider that looked as though it had ten legs. Like this...

So what is really going on here JJ? Well, this is a Buzzing Spider, no, honestly it is! Its scientific name is 'Anyphaena accentuata'. During courtship the male is known to emit a high pitched buzzing sound by vibrating its abdomen on a leaf, and that is the origin of the name. 

I think this one is immature, because when I found it, its room was a mess. Or...it might have been the fact that I found it under loose bark and the wonderful British Spiders website says this: Adults of both sexes are mostly found in early to mid-summer with females sometimes surviving through to the autumn. Immatures can be found in ground vegetation, leaf litter and under bark in the autumn and winter.

You have to admit though, those legs are a bit of a tangle and it takes a bit of working out to sort out which is which.

Here's another one that I saw the same day (because I know you were praying that I would share more spider photos). This one has a rather distinctively marked abdomen. Usually that central, dark design is shaped like 2 chevrons, or arrow heads, pointing forwards...

Meantime, back in the real world. Sometimes when I have been out walking in the woods, I get back home to find that I have brought home a hitch-hiker. On the day I found my 'special spider', I was sitting at the laptop, uploading the photographs, when this next critter ran across the table...

This is Scaphidium quadriguttatum - A Shining Fungus Beetle. Lovely...you can't beat a bit of fungus on your kitchen table! It belongs to the Rove Beetle family. I couldn't actually find much information on this species, even my usually trusty Collins Complete Guide has no reference. I do know it favours making its home in rotting wood, and so I made sure I relocated it suitably. Or should that read: I suitably relocated it?

As we are talking fungus, this might be a good point to share some slime mould I recently photographed. C'mon, it isn't as bad as it sounds: quite pretty in its own way...

Fruiting bodies of a slime mould, Trichia decipiens

I wasn't sure what these next objects were; eggs of some description perhaps?

Another thing that I found under a piece of loose bark, and probably hibernating, was this cool longhorn beetle...

Rhagium mordax (Lepturinae)

I say it was probably hibernating because I do usually see these quite early on in the year, and have found them out and about in February, although not January. Once again, I ensured he was tucked up safely before moving on. 

What do you think these are (pictured above)? They are not beetles; but are beetle larvae. Yes, the larvae of Soldier Beetles. There are several similar ones and so cannot be confident which species these are. 


As for this next one, well, totally confused by this; it looks very like some Darkling Beetle larvae I have seen. But also quite like other fly larvae...

I can't actually see any little legs in this photo, so maybe fly would be a better choice? Your guess is as good as mine though. In fact, better probably.


One last beetle find: I have more chance of knitting fog than finding an identity for this one. There are just so many black beetles to search...

I think my favourite recent find would have to be this beautiful...yes...beautiful, green spider...

Diaea dorsata - A Crab Spider (Araneae)

I would not be expecting to find one of these spiders in the middle of winter. This is a female; males are quite similar, but can have speckled, or spotted legs. Like this...

I have quite a lot more that I could share but I realise time is tight and so will save that for the next update. For now I will leave you with a tiny Collembola that I found in my garden...

Dicyrtomina saundersi (Collembola)