---

No Frames

---

Spiders, like many other invertebrates, have generally been forgotten by the conservation community. This site will serve to promote awareness of the issues related to spider conservation including threats to spider diversity, current conservation actions, and challenges in protecting spiders and their habitats.

The U.S. Fish and Wildife Service has finally listed nine Texas cave invertebrates, including 5 spiders, as endangered on the U.S. Endangered Species Act. You can read more about it in the USFWS press release and the Federal Register notice.

U.S. Endangered Species Act News from GREENLines:

The GrassRoots Environmental Effectiveness Network (GREEN), a project of Defenders of Wildlife publishes a daily electronic newsletter called GREENLines. Some news on ESA spider listings:

NINE BLIND CAVE-DWELLING INVERTEBRATES LISTED: The USFWS has listed "five species of spiders, three beetles and one harvestman" known to live in the Edward's Aquifer underground ecosystem, "predominantly in northern Bexar County," Texas says the San Antonio Express-News 12/22. While the listing is not expected to affect use of the aquifer it could aid efforts to protect some 100,000
acres of the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone from development. The listing culminates an eight year battle to have the non-charismatic micro-fauna protected under the Act. (GREENLines - December 28, 2000)

USFWS MISSES LISTING DEADLINE: The USFWS has failed to meet a commitment to make a decision on the listing of "nine blind cave dwelling invertebrates" that live in Bexar County, Texas says the San Antonio Express-News 10/12. The local office says it is waiting on Washington, but the Center for Biological Diversity says that despite the broken promise it will only continue to hold off on filing a lawsuit until November 1. (GREENLines - October 25, 2000)

DON'T MESS WITH THE ESA: The fate of the Bexar County 9, "five species of spiders, three beetles and a harvestman," is now in the hands of the courts after the USFWS failed to meet yet another deadline for listing the so-called Texas "water cave bugs" says the San Antonio Express-News 10/31. Eight years and repeated broken promises later, the Center for Biological Diversity has now moved to force listing of the species in order to protect their habitat from residential and commercial development. Although ranchers and developers are "extremely upset" over possible listing, their representative warns that the ESA is "not something you want to mess with." (GREENLines - November 13, 2000)

NatureServe® is a source for authoritative conservation information on more than 50,000 plants, animals, and ecological communities of the United States and Canada. NatureServe is provided by the Association for Biodiversity Information (ABI) a non-profit organization dedicated to developing and providing knowledge about the world's natural diversity. While compiled data on spiders is admittedly sparse, 343 spider species are tracked in these databases, including 108 at risk species. Decent ecological and conservation status reports are available for USESA-listed species or candidates and rarer species.  Note that ABI works in partnership with the Natural Heritage Network-a group of 75 independent Natural Heritage programs and Conservation Data Centers that collect data on rare species and ecosystems in the United States, Canada, and Latin America - to provide the scientific information that is essential for effective conservation action.

2000 IUCN Red List Available:

The new 2000 IUCN Red List is available online as a searchable database. No clear changes in the status of spiders since the 1996 Red List have been made.