Imagine My Surprise

I've been chasing Philodromus albidus for the last couple of years, certain that they're out there. VC55 is on the north west edge of their historical range, and there is only one previous record for the vice county. In May 1994 Jon Daws collected a specimen from Essendine Churchyard, just yards inside the county boundary, which John Crocker identified as Philodromus rufus. When Segers redescribed P. albidus in 1989 (Segers, H. (1989) A redescription of Philodromus albidus Kulczynski, 1911 (Araneae, Philodromidae) Bull.Br.arachnol.Soc. 8(2): 38-40), Jon Daws changed this record to P. albidus.

In the last couple of years I've had a number of specimens from my own garden I was pretty sure were P. albidus but they were all immature and so this could not be confirmed. I've been taking advantage of the lousy weather for a mad end of year dash through my backlog of specimens and was delighted to find not one but two adult female Philodromus albidus beaten from Oak at Narborough Bog on 28.06.2019. At last, proof that albidus is out there and that VC55 is a stop over on the north westwards march of this species.