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Species Ladybird spider - Eresus niger, spider
Habitat LOWLAND HEATHLAND
Background and status

Live underground in webbed burrows. The spiders eat beetles, earwigs, bees and woodlice. The spiders are up to 15mm long, black (or very dark) in colour and covered in fine hairs.

Thought to be extinct since beginning of century but rediscovered in 1979. Today, only one site is known, in Dorset.

Main Threats As there is only one known site, this makes the population very vulnerable.
Conservation and targets

The protection of one known site