Fen raft spider
The fen raft spider is a big dark brown or black spider with white stripes along its sides. It lives at the edge of ponds and ditches in wet fens. It can run across the water without sinking and even dive under it.
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Fun facts
It feels tiny ripples on the water with special hairs on its legs, and that is how it finds prey.
The mother carries her egg sac under her body for about three weeks and dips it in the water so it does not dry out.
Before the babies hatch, she builds a tent-like nursery web and guards them there.
It has become rare in many places, because its wet homes are disappearing.
Most asked questions about Fen raft spider
?Can the fen raft spider walk on water?
Yes. It runs across the surface of the water, and it can also climb down plants to go under water.
?How big is the fen raft spider?
Big females have a body of about 2 centimetres, and with legs they are about 7 centimetres across.
?What does the fen raft spider eat?
Water bugs, dragonfly larvae, other spiders, tadpoles and even small fish.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Dolomedes plantarius
- Named by
- Clerck, 1757
- Group
- Spiders
- Family
- Dolomedidae
- Classification
- Arachnida > Araneae > Dolomedidae
- Lives on
- Europe
- Also known as
- Great raft spider
Where the facts come from
- Great raft spider (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Helen Smith. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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