A cold December day, half the countryside under water - what else to do but huddle over a nice warm microscope catching up with samples from the summer bulge when it is just impossible to keep up. In this case, a streamside vacuum sample from September. It started off in a humdrum way, knee deep in Bathyphantes gracilis and Tenuiphantes tenuis, but then ... a tiny speck of a spider turned out to be the Ray Spider, Theridiosoma gemmosum. I've never seen this species before and it's the first record for VC55 as well as a considerable range expansion. Fortunately it's a pretty unmistakable species (once you look close enough), which is lucky as this was an immature male - not surprising since September is past the peak for this species. A nice surprise on a winter's afternoon.
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