One of the rarest spiders on earth at Hilton?
In a garden in ‘Maritzburg, on May 10th, 2000, we discovered a spider, with 2 egg cases, that no-one had ever seen before. It turned out to be a new species – now called the Forest Bolas spider. Since discovering it, no others have been found.
The only known Forest Bolas spider, with egg case.
On May 16th, 2006, I found an egg case that looks like a Forest Bolas spider egg case, above Gwens 4.
The egg case found near Gwen’s 4.
Please keep your eyes open
– it would be a major discovery to find the second Forest Bolas spider
on the College property.
Did you know?
The Forest Bolas Spider is one of a group of bizarre spiders that catch their prey by emitting a scent resembling the sex pheromone of a female moth. Male moths home in on the scent, only to be nabbed by a whirling glob of liquid silk that the spider constructs instead of the usual round web. The unfortunate, and no doubt disappointed, moth is then reeled in and eaten
The spiders only make their traps in the evenings – when moths are active. South has 2 known Bolas Spider species. The other one occurs in the grasslands at Umgeni Valley Nature reserve, and should occur on the Hilton estate.
Meet
John Roff
John Roff has recently
joined the staff of Hilton College as Environmental Education Officer.
John has many years of experience as a nature
guide and environmental educator. He is particularly passionate about
spiders and orchids, and about sharing the wonders and beauty of
creation with people. John plays a variety of musical instruments, and
particularly enjoys making and playing bamboo flutes. He likes to use
music in nature as a way of helping people enjoy and relate to natural
places. He is happily married to Jo and they have 3
young and very active toddlers. He sees his appointment to the Hilton College
staff as a great privilege, and hopes to learn and share much here.
Spider discoveries get stranger
The latest on interesting spider discoveries at Hilton College
On Tuesday 23rd Stuart Taylor, Daniel
Meyer and Jonathan Saville and I went to search for more egg cases of
what I suspected to be a Forest Bolas Spider. We did find more egg cases
– another 5 or 6 in fact.
The boys persuaded me to go back that evening, as these spiders are
nocturnal. We searched where we had found the egg cases, for about 2
hours. On our way back we checked near 2 egg cases, and there was a most
unusual spider. I captured her, and took some pictures the next day.
This spider appears to be the same as one I saw about 5 years ago in
‘Maritzburg, but didn’t collect. I suspect it is a new species, and am
in the process of contacting spider people around the world to try to
confirm this.
These spiders certainly wouldn’t win any beauty contests, but part of
what makes them amazing is that they, like bolas spiders, catch their
prey by emitting a scent that smells like a female moth. This attracts
male moths, which are then trapped on a specially designed sticky thread
that keeps the moth held but allows it to fly a little, thus preventing
its escape. The spiders avoid predation by hiding on top of a leaf and
looking like a bird dropping.
Possible new Pasilobus species
collected at Hilton College, 23rd May 2006 by Stuart Taylor, Jonathan
Saville, Daniel Meyer and John Roff.