Nursery Web Spider
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Pisaura mirabilis
Locally common & widespread in Britain.
The prosoma (cephalothorax) is variable in color, ranging from light to reddish brown and from grey to black.
A lighter stripe is visible down the middle of the prosoma.
The opisthosoma (abdomen) is long and narrow and tapered towards the rear end.
The Female spiders has a dark patch (epigyne) on the underside of her abdomen that includes the copulatory organs.
Male spiders exhibit a stronger contrast than Females and appear black, especially when compared to the white nuptial gifts.
Females tend to get paler towards the end of summer.
The stripe along the back of the body can be found in all spiders and can be seen as crypsis, a protective measure against predators.