| Oak Spider (Aculepeira ceropegia (Walckenaer, 1802)) |
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Scientific name: Aculepeira ceropegia (Walckenaer, 1802) Common name: Oak Spider French name: Épeire feuille de chêne, Épeire des bois. Order: Araneae Family: Araneidae Size: Body size: 13 to 15 mm for females, 6 to 8 mm for males. Biotope: Low growing bushes, damp meadows, river banks and road sides with a preference for sunny habitats, in plains and mountains up to 3000 metres in altitude. Web: Orb web among high grasses, reinforced in its centre by a lattice of downy white threads on which the spider often stands. It also builds a refuge close to the web to shelter in case of bad weather. Observation period: May to September. Geographic area: Europe, Turkey, the Caucasus, Kazakhstan, east to western Siberia in Russia. |
The Oak spider shows an elongated abdomen with a sharp tip. It is greenish yellow in colour, reticulated with black, and bears a whitish pattern resembling an oak leaf. This is the origin of its common name. The legs are ringed and there are, in particular, three black rings on each tibia. This shy spider drops down on the ground if threatened and then gets back up to its web using a silk thread. The Bordered Orb-weaver (Neoscona adianta) and Neoscona byzanthina bear a similar abdominal pattern buy they only show two dark rings on each tibia. Aculepeira carbonaria is found in a different habitat, on mountains above 2000 metres in altitude, on rocky screes and rocky slopes. It is mainly grey in colour. Aculepeira armida shows a reddish orange stripe on the abdomen, in the folium. The two first lobes of the oak leaf pattern are the same size while the second lobe is larger than the first one on the Oak Spider. |
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I have observed this Oak Spider while doing a trek in the Vercors Massif. |
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I am sure of the species identification based on the abdominal pattern and on the dark rings on the tibias. |
André Bon October 2021