# Little spiders living in my pond. What species are they?



## TheToad888 (Dec 18, 2008)

There are these spiders that are living on the side of my pond and can 'walk on water' what species are they? They are small and black/brown. I wiggled a small tadpole in front of one and it ate it...
Well, spider experts, what species are they?


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## andy07966 (Mar 10, 2009)

BBC - Science & Nature - Wildfacts - Water spider

Hope that helps


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## 955i (Aug 17, 2007)

Are you sure they are not pond skaters?

Common pond skater - Gerris lacustris - ARKive - image A8748


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## TheToad888 (Dec 18, 2008)

955i said:


> Are you sure they are not pond skaters?
> 
> Common pond skater - Gerris lacustris - ARKive - image A8748


Naah, i get them too. These are definately spiders. I'm not sure that they're water spiders since they look almost Wolf spider like.


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## garlicpickle (Jan 16, 2009)

I get them on my pond too, they look like tiny wolf spiders.

The actual water spider is quite large and lives under the water, not the same as these guys.


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## garlicpickle (Jan 16, 2009)

Wonder if these are them? I just did a search for spider walking on water.

Pirata piraticus


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## iiisecondcreep (Oct 29, 2007)

Raft spiders? These get quite big looking at some of the pics on google images!

Dolomedes fimbriatus:










Dolomedes plantarius:


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## TheToad888 (Dec 18, 2008)

Raft spiders look too big... but the brown one looks just like them! Well, i think i know what they are now! Thanks pepol!


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## Joe1507 (Aug 11, 2008)

Its porbably a raft spider


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## GRB (Jan 24, 2008)

Where do you live?

Raft spiders are known to only occur in a few small areas on fen grounds. They are protected by law as they are extremely rare. 

They are more likely pirate spiders or even just wolf spiders (these occur more commonly than _Dolomedes_). I've seen wolf spiders skirting across my pond and eating bugs that land on the surface.


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