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Nursery Web Spider (Pisaura mirabilis)

The Nursery Web spider belongs to the family of Pisauridae. It is about 15mm in size and it hunts in low vegetation and on the ground looking for flies and other small insects. It uses quick sprinting and strength to catch and overpower its prey. The Nursery Web Spider varies in colour from grey to dark brown. It gets it name from the way it nurses its eggs and spiderlings. During mating the male presents the female with a carefully wrapped insect as a present. The female carries her egg sac in her jaws. The spiderlings are looked after by the female for some time after they have hatched.