About Nigma walckenaeri (Roewer, 1951)
Nigma walckenaeri is a green cribellate spider that reaches up to five millimetres in length, making it the largest species in the family Dictynidae. Most of its body is somewhat yellowish, but its abdomen is a shining green. This distinctive green colouring makes the species easy to distinguish from other spiders, and also helps it stay almost completely hidden from view. Males of this species have an elevated head region. Between August and October, these spiders can be found in gardens, on walls, and often on large leaves such as those of lilac or feral grapevine. Nigma walckenaeri catches insects, sometimes even insects larger than itself, in a web that it builds on the surface of leaves. The female places its 7-millimetre long egg sac in a location far from its own retreat. This spider has a Palearctic distribution. In Great Britain, prior to 1993, it had only ever been recorded in London and the Home Counties. It may have originally been imported into Kew Gardens.
