The Ladybird spider Erews cinnaberinus rearing project

Abstract

The Ladybird spider Eresus cinnahrrinus was considered to be extinct in the United Kingdom until 1979, when it was rediscovered at one heathland site in Dorset. The species is listed on Schedule 5 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act and is strictly protected. By 1992 the population had reduced to between 15 and 40 breeding individuals and English Nature, the statutory wildlife conservation body in England, proposed a Species Recovery Plan which included the protection and enhancement of the wild population, the establishment of new colonies and an assessment of the taxonomic status and viability of the population. In 1994 the Federation of Zoological Gardens of Great Britain and Ireland, via the Terrestrial Invertebrate Taxon Advisory Group (TITAG), was contracted to establish a captive‐rearing project for the species. Because it was important that the British population was not further depleted by the collection of specimens until maintenance and breeding protocols had been developed, an experimental captive population was established with 1.10 specimens imported from Denmark, which were considered to be geographically and morphologically most similar to the British specimens. This paper details the maintenance, rearing and breeding protocols developed for the species at the Endangered Species Breeding Unit, Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust. Martin Mere.