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Araneus alsine (Araneae: Araneidae) at fauna at Flanders Moss, Francois Chazel (former Reserve Flanders Moss lowland raised (VC87 Manager, SNH) found a female A. alsine which he reported to Chris Cathrine (who confirmed the West Perthshire, ) identification). This specimen was recorded on 16 July 2014 in an area of scrub near the centre of the north-west by Chris Cathrine dome of the bog (NS6299). This dome is bordered by extensive commercial conifer plantation and small areas Araneus alsine was recorded at Flanders Moss (Site of of semi-natural broadleaved woodland. The habitat is Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and National Nature shown in Figure 2. Reserve (NNR)) (VC87 West Perthshire) in 2013 and Although found at opposite ends of Flanders Moss, 2014. Flanders Moss, a lowland raised bog, is a new site both specimens were recorded in habitat consistent with for this species, and the most southerly in Scotland (see that occupied by A. alsine in Inverness-shire and ‘Note on Distribution in Scotland’ below). A. alsine has elsewhere in Europe (Almquist, 2005; Bowman, 2010): previously been recorded in Inverness-shire (multiple bog with encroachment from scrub and young trees. sites along the Great Glen) and Perthshire (Killiecrankie Neither Stewart (2001) nor Lee (2004) recorded A. and Glen Fincastle) in Scotland, and is also found in alsine during surveys targeting spiders at Flanders Moss, southern England and Wales, in a UK context. although the latter was part of the SSSI site condition A single male was collected on 8 July 2013 by Chris monitoring programme and so targeted H. dampfi. This Cathrine and Glenn Norris using bugvac (vacuum may suggest that this distinctive species occurs on the sampling) during Site Condition Monitoring surveys bog at low densities, or isolated locations within this completed by Caledonian Conservation Ltd under large site (859 ha) (Cathrine et al., 2015). contract to Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), targeting the Flanders Moss is the largest remaining lowland raised notified spider feature of the SSSI, Heliophanus dampfi bog in Britain and the most intact in Europe (Cloy et al. (Cathrine et al., 2015). The specimen was collected in an 2005). It is managed by SNH, and a flagship site for area of raised bog with slight encroachment from shrubs peatland restoration. Since A. alsine was recorded, the and birch (Betula spp.) regeneration, to the east of the bog has been subject to intense restoration work, moss, which is bordered by semi-natural broadleaved particularly in the east, where tree and scrub regeneration woodland (NS647981). The habitat is shown in Figure 1. has been removed and the water level raised by various The following year, after raising awareness of the spider

Figure 1. Habitat at east of Flanders Moss, where male Araneus alsine was recorded in 2013. Photograph © Chris Cathrine / Caledonian Conservation Ltd.

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Figure 2. Habitat on north-west dome of Flanders Moss, where female Araneus asline was recorded in 2014. Photograph © Chris Cathrine / Caledonian Conservation Ltd. means at the location where the male specimen was Ayrshire) and the second from 2016 at Cowdenbeath collected in 2013. This is likely to have reduced the (NT149909, VC85 Fifeshire). These records are available habitat for this species, although the interface erroneous, relating to Larinioides cornutus and not to A. between the bog and the birch-dominated semi-natural alsine (Craig Macadam, Buglife, pers. comm. 20 broadleaved woodland is likely to remain suitable. As November 2017). peatland restoration work continues, and previous management actions take effect, the bog will become Acknowledgements wetter and more open, with little or no scrub or tree The author is grateful to SNH for commissioning the encroachment, and therefore less suitable for A. alsine. invertebrate surveys at Flanders Moss SSSI as part of their ongoing site condition monitoring programme, and Araneus alsine is Nationally Scarce but not assessed as to Athayde Tonhasca for encouraging the publication of qualifying for an IUCN threat category in the latest status articles to share results with the wider ecology review (Harvey et al., 2017). community. The author would also like to thank Glenn Norris for his assistance with fieldwork and Francois Note that all invertebrate records collected during site Chazel for reporting incidental spider records at Flanders condition monitoring undertaken by Caledonian Moss. David Pickett (current Reserve Manager for Conservation Ltd in Scotland are available at full Flanders Moss, SNH) also helped by providing further resolution on NBN Atlas as required under SNH contract details relating to Francois’ record of Araneus alsine. (https://registry.nbnatlas.org/public/show/dp4). The results of the 2013 Site Condition Monitoring surveys at Flanders Moss SSSI are described in Cathrine et al. References Almquist, S. 2005. Swedish Araneae, part 1 – families (2015), focussing on the target notified spider feature (H. Atypidae to Hahniidae (Linyphiidae excluded). Insect dampfi). Systematics & Evolution Supplement, 62: 1-284.

Bowman, J. 2010. Araneus alsine in Glen Moriston, Note on Distribution in Scotland Inverness-shire 2010. Spider Recording Scheme At the time of writing there were two additional records News, 68. In: Newsletter of the British of A. alsine from Scotland in a Buglife dataset on NBN Arachnological Society, 119: 19-21. Atlas: one from 2014 at Ardeer (NS289412, VC75

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Cathrine, C., Norris, G., Wiswell, H., Gleed-Owen, C., as well as several immature Dipoena. A single female Wilkinson, G., Willet, J. & Shanks, S. 2015. Site was found on the second day (NJ030163), as well as two Condition Monitoring of invertebrate features at 19 juvenile Dipoena, during one hour of searching. All were designated sites in Scotland. Scottish Natural Heritage located by searching tree trunks for webs, and finding Commissioned Report No. 872. Scottish Natural captured wood ants, in several cases with spiders still Heritage, Inverness. feeding on their prey. Many other dead wood ants were Cloy, M.J., Farmer, J.A., Graham, M.C., MacKenzie, also found hanging from silk in similar circumstances, A.B. & Cook, G.T. 2005. A comparison of antimony but where no Dipoena were located nearby. All Dipoena and lead profiles over the past 2500 years in Flanders and webs were found on old Scots pine with deeply Moss ombotrophic peat bog, Scotland. Journal of fissured bark, in close proximity to an active wood ant Environmental Monitoring, 7: 1137-1147. commuting route. Dead ants were found hanging from Harvey, P., Davidson, M., Dawson, I., Fowles, A., silk (with at least one attachment point from the head) Hitchcock, G., Lee, P., Merrett, P., Russell-Smith, T. pulled away from the trunk, secured from a small broken & Smith, H. 2017. A review of the scarce and branch or other protrusion from the tree. All webs and threatened spiders (Araneae) of Great Britain: Dipoena were found on an east-south-east to south-east Species Status No. 22. NRW Evidence Report No: 11. aspect of the tree trunks. These records were made at the Natural Resources Wales, Bangor. end of the known adult season for D. torva (May to Lee, P. 2004. Site condition monitoring: spiders on sites August in the UK (Bee et al. 2017), although Bratton of special scientific interest. Scottish Natural Heritage (1991) states females are also found in September). It’s Commissioned Report FO2AC322. Scottish Natural also worth noting that the author could only safely access Heritage, Edinburgh. heights up to 2 m on tree trunks, but Simon (1997) found Stewart, J.A. 2001. Some Spiders of Flanders Moss. D. torva to be most abundant at heights of around 10 m, The Forth Naturalist and Historian, 24: 49-56. with few below 5 m. Therefore, the survey season and restricted survey height are likely to have limited the number of individuals encountered. Corresponding author details A notable record of D. torva was also made at Alvie Caledonian Conservation Ltd, Office 2 and 3, Craigarnhall, Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) during site Bridge of Allan, , FK9 4NG condition monitoring surveys completed by Caledonian E-mail: [email protected] Conservation Ltd, under contract to Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), although the target notified features did not include spiders (Cathrine et al. 2015). A single female D. torva was collected on 15 July 2013 by Chris Cathrine and Glenn Norris using bugvac (vacuum Observations on Dipoena torva (Araneae: sampling) at the edge of woodland to the east of Bogach Theridiidae) ecology, including a record (NH882096). Although collected from the ground, trees from Alvie Site of Special Scientific Interest had been beaten, shaken and swept before vacuum (VC96 East Inverness-shire, Scotland) in sampling in search of one of the notified features, Hagenella clathrata (Trichoptera). It is therefore birch dominated woodland considered likely that the specimen was dislodged from a tree before being collected from vegetation at the base. by Chris Cathrine The woodland at this site is dominated by birch (Betula spp.), although there are scattered pines, and wood ants Dipoena torva is considered to be associated with Scots are present in the area (Figure 1). Although more pine (Pinus sylvestris) in open woodland in Scotland, commonly encountered on old pines throughout its range, where it spins a web in fissures of bark near wood ant D. torva is known to occur on broadleaved trees such as (Formica aquilonia and possibly other species) trails. oaks elsewhere in Europe, and many of the birch trees at When the ant’s antennae are ensnared by the web the Alvie SSSI have deeply fissured trunks, which could be spider envenomates its prey, biting through the thin used by D. torva for web construction (Simon 1997; membrane at the base of an antenna. The spider then Aakra & Hauge 2000; Almquist 2005). F. aquilonia are tends to move the captured wood ant away from the tree also known to utilise mixed woodland, including birch, trunk, and the risk of other ants attacking it or stealing its although may be more difficult to detect in such habitat prey before it can feed on the tissues in its head. Even as nests can be less obvious (Stockan & Robinson 2016; immature D. torva are able to feed in this way (Bratton Chris Cathrine pers. obs.). It therefore seems likely that 1991; Roberts 1995; Davidson 2011; Bee et al. 2017; habitat structure (i.e. deeply fissured bark on trees for Chris Cathrine pers. obs.). Observations of D. torva are web construction) and availability of prey (i.e. wood ants) provided below, hopefully adding further ecological are key relevant factors for D. torva, as opposed to the detail, which may aid surveyors hoping to locate this actual tree species present. Similarly, their presence in species, or those aiming to conserve populations. relatively open woodland areas may relate to the ecology The author spent four hours over two days in 2016 of their wood ant prey, rather than representing a direct visually searching for spiders in the Caledonian pine ecological requirement for the spider – F. aquilonia is the forest east of Loch an Eilein, Rothiemurchus Estate wood ant species most tolerant of shade in Scotland, but (NH8908, 4 September), and east of Forest Lodge, still tends to nest along forest rides in closed canopy (NJ0316, 7 September). On the first plantation (Hughes 2006). day, during three hours of searching, four female D. torva In the latest status review by Harvey et al. (2017), were found (three at NH898084 and one at NH899084), Dipoena torva was assessed as Nationally Rare

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