Blog & News
An Update on the Spiders of PEI Project (archive)
Published on Monday December 19, 2016
Authored by PEIISC
This week, Rosemary Curley, Biologist, President of Nature PEI and member of PEIISC, brings you some news on the Spiders of PEI project!
The numbers of exotic spiders are now tabulated for Prince Edward Island. Fully 19 of 197 known species have arrived from elsewhere, and of this 9.6 %, seven of them like to live with us in our houses.
If what happens elsewhere is the norm, spiders that arrive to our shores likely do so in potted plants, shipping containers and packing material. A few spiders show up in fruit shipments, but most do not survive here. Spiders in potted plants likely survive the best. Fully 34% of our plants are introduced species as are about 14% of our mammals. Many were brought in deliberately, but such is not the case with spiders!
Assistance from the PEI Invasive Species Council, the PEI Wildlife Conservation Fund and input from the provincial government allowed Nature PEI to assess Island spiders.
Check out the links below of the wandering house spider, Parasteatoda tabulata!
- http://bugguide.net/node/view/600862/bgimage
- https://www.google.ca/?hl=en&gws_rd=ssl#hl=en&q=Parasteatoda+tabulata+image
Attached images:
