by Edward Milner and Nick Riddiford
Prior to the mid 1980s, knowledge of spiders on Fair Isle was restricted to
observations by three specialists on short visits in the 1950s-early 1960s. No systematic
work had been done and little or nothing was known about the occurrence of spiders during
the winter months.
Indeed, there was much still to learned of spider distribution and occurrence in the
other northern islands of Shetland, and Orkney. Pioneer work by Ed Milner (Shetland,
including Fair Isle) and Nick Riddiford (Fair Isle) has changed all this. The residence of
the latter on Fair Isle permitted an in-depth study to be carried out over a three-year
period, concentrating mainly on the isle’s montane spiders. This has extended
massively our knowledge of the spider fauna of one of Britain’s most isolated islands
(40 km from the nearest land) and led to a number of interesting discoveries.
The results of this study have been written up (Milner & Riddiford, in press,
Spider Studies on Fair Isle (Shetland) over a three-year period: distribution, phenology
and the zoogeographical context) and will appear in a forthcoming issue of the Bulletin of
the Amateur Entomologists’ Society. In the meantime, we are pleased to be able to
make available here a list, with a brief indication of status, for those species known to
occur on Fair Isle.
as of 16/01/99
date given is date of first record
The categories are as designated by JNCC: Comm = common
s/An = synanthropic, Loc = local, Nb = Notable B etc
Meioneta saxatilis has recently been split into two species and only one (M.mossica)
has definitely been identified from Fair Isle. The Meioneta "saxatilis" record
was almost certainly a M mossica.
Authors are:
jc = John Cloudsley-Thompson
em = Edward Milner
nr = Nick Riddiford
rc = Richard Carpenter
