Spiders - set of 10 stamps, issued 26 September 2024

Described by Wikipedia as "air-breathing arthropods that have eight limbs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk;  the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all orders of organisms" Royal Mail's next stamp issue features a set of ten spiders.

Of the 48,000 or so species of spiders found worldwide, around 680 are recorded in the United Kingdom. They can be found in almost every habitat – from windswept mountain tops to domestic dwellings.  The set of ten stamps includes 5 each of 2nd class and 1st class.

Five 2nd class and five 1st class Spider stamps in se-tenant strips issued 26 September 2024

The stamp designs

2nd class: Sand bear spider, Cucumber spider, Woodland jumping spider, Four-spotted orb web*spider, Nurseryweb spider;  (*not orb weaver as originally published - the issued stamp will be correct.)

Corrected version of the Orbweb spider stamp:

Four-spotted Orbweb Spider stamp

 

1st class: Ladybird spider, Candy-striped spider, Wasp spider, Zebra spider, Heather crab spider.

Technical details

The 37 x 35 mm stamps were designed by Richard Lewington and printed on gummed paper by Cartor Security Printers in litho.  Perforations are 14 x 14½.  Sheets are of 60 (probably two panes of 30).

Products

Stamp set, first day cover, presentation pack, stamp cards.

Details from presentation pack

Of the 48,000 o or so species of spider found worldwide, around 680 are recorded in the United Kingdom. They represent 38 families from a world total of 115, which means that there is plenty of variety in the British spider fauna. Spiders can be found in almost every habitat – from windswept mountain tops to the deepest caves, and from ancient woodlands to domestic dwellings – each of which provides specific environments that suit particular spiders.

Spiders have eight legs and two parts to the body: the cephalothorax, covered with a shield-like carapace, and the abdomen, both of which may be quite colourful and have clear markings. Most British spiders have eight eyes, but those in four families have just six. Size, which relates to the body length and excludes the legs, varies from 2mm to 22mm. Females are generally larger than males, extravagantly so in a few cases. 

Spiders found in the UK feed almost exclusively on invertebrates and play a vital role in controlling pests, particularly in domestic environments. Close observation of a large orb web of a garden spider in the early autumn will reveal the remains of countless greenfly entrapped, perhaps in a period of just one day. Four families, the Araneidae, Tetragnathidae, Uloboridae and Theridiosomatidae, spin orb webs. Other families, such as the Eresidae and Atypidae, weave tunnels of silk in burrows underground with exposed, camouflaged sections at the surface that entangle passing insects.

The Agelenidae, which include the familiar large house spiders, also incorporate tunnel-shaped retreats into their sheet-like webs, which can be quite extensive in outbuildings when left undisturbed.

But webs are not the only means of catching prey. Other spider families use different tactics to provide themselves with food. For example, wolf spiders (Lycosidae) do not spin a web; instead, they run rapidly over the ground, simply chasing down their prey.

Jumping spiders (Salticidae) also do not spin webs to catch food. Their excellent eyesight enables them to determine the location of potential prey nearby, before they position themselves to leap forward to capture it. Conversely, the crab spiders (Thomisidae) are quite sedentary and lie in wait, often in flowerheads, to ambush insects feeding on nectar and pollen.

However, their close relatives, the running crab spiders (Philodromidae), scuttle rapidly among the foliage of trees and bushes in their hunt for prey.

Spider silk is produced for different purposes, ranging from the creation of protective egg sacs or cocoons for newly hatched spiderlings to the spinning of the complicated structure of the orb web. 

One of the most remarkable ways in which spiders use silk is a dispersal method known as ‘ballooning’. In suitable weather conditions, small adult ‘money spiders’ and immature individuals of larger species climb to an exposed position, such as the top of a fence post, and spin threads of silk that are then (with the spider attached) caught up in the wind. Considerable distances can be travelled in this way, and height seems to present no problem. In the Voyage of the Beagle, Charles Darwin reported seeing spiders ballooning on the rigging of the ship sailing 60 miles off the Argentinian coast. Recent research has shown that electrostatic forces in the Earth’s atmosphere may also have some part to play in this ‘flying’ adventure that many spiders undertake. The results of ballooning can sometimes be observed on clear autumn evenings. 

Fields covered with a fine blanket of silken threads, or gossamer, attest to the presence of countless small spiders, all taking advantage of suitable weather conditions to balloon. It has been estimated that an acre of grassland could support up to 2.25 million individual spiders at this time of year, so the silken mantle can be quite substantial.

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