Society of Biology conducts house spider survey

The Society of Biology has launched a new mobile phone app to help gather data about the Tegenaria (house) spiders, often spotted indoors.

The free app, "Spider in da House" is available from the Android and Apple app stores and will allow users to report their spider sightings and upload photos.

Dr Rebecca Nesbit from the Society of Biology says: “We are recording the large, hairy Tegenaria spiders, which are most often called ‘house spiders’. The number seen in houses increases in the autumn, and we want to know the timing.”

Tegenaria spiders usually live in garages, sheds and wood piles, where they will remain in a sheet web until the males go on the hunt for female mates, which is when they are spotted indoors.

The Society of Biology is interested in investigating the timing of this year’s mating and whether it is the same across the UK or even influenced by weather conditions.

Professor Adam Hart from the University of Gloucestershire says: “By eating flies and other insects, spiders are not only providing us with a pest control service, but are important in ecosystems.”
 
The Spider in da House app has photos and information to help identify the spiders that people may have spotted in their homes. Whilst most spiders will die if they accidentally end up in a house, some have adapted to the warmer, drier conditions.

Dr Rebecca Nesbit added: “We are trying to collect as much data as possible from around the UK. It is amazing how much there is still to discover about even the animals that live closest to us, but scientists can’t collect this information alone. We can only perform this study with the help of interested people around the UK.”

Image courtesy of John Bartholomew