Spider Identification Service

Fossil and extant spiders identified to family, genus or species by expert arachnologist
(fossils in amber a speciality: increase the value of collection/sell your specimens for more!)
Maybe you will even have SPECIES NEW TO SCIENCE...which could be named after you!
see below for examples and terms of service

Family: Plectreuridae
Species: Plectreurys pittfieldi (male)
Author: Penney, 2009
Ref: Zootaxa, 2144: 66
Preservation: Dominican amber
Age: Miocene
Determined by: Dr D Penney, VII/2009
Notes: A very rare spider, known only from a single specimen. Possibly the only true member of this family so far described from the fossil record (there is a dubious ID from Baltic amber). Undescribed specimens are known from the Jurassic of China.

Family: Mimetidae
Species: Ero carboneana (male)
Author: Petrunkevitch, 1942
Ref: Trans. Conn. Acad. Arts. Sci, 34: 206
Preservation: Baltic amber
Age: Eocene
Determined by: Dr D Penney, IX/2009
Notes: Placed in a fossil genus by Wunderlich (2004), not accepted by Harms & Dunlop (2009). Living mimetids are known as pirate spiders because they feed on other spiders. This fossil species probably did the same.

Family: Nephilidae
Species: Nephila senegalensis (female)
Author: (Walckenaer, 1842)
Distribution: West Africa to Ethiopia
Determined by: Dr D Penney, VIII/2009
Notes: A large species, females with a leg span the size of a human hand, males are tiny. Females weave huge golden-silk orb webs and hundreds of individuals may be found together in a colony-like arrangement. There are several similar species, all distributed throughout the tropics.

Penney D. 2008. Dominican Amber Spiders: a comparative neontological approach to identification, faunistics, ecology and biogeography. Soft cover 176 pages 24 x 17 cm 88 colour photos 11 black & white photos 14 colour illustrations 224 greyscale illustrations. ISBN 978-0-9558636-0-8. (£40). See home page for ordering instructions.

Approximately 1,000 species of fossil spider have been scientifically described! You can download the complete list here

Rates for fossil spider identification (all provided with identification data as above):
<50 specimens: family ID - £10.00, genus ID £15.00, species ID £20 (prices per specimen)
50+ negotiable rate depending on sample size (minimum daily rate: £200.00)
Special arrangements for amber dealers are available

Rates for extant spider identification:
UK material
As for fossils above

Foreign material
Please email for details

Return shipping costs to be covered by client. We reserve the right to photograph any specimens sent us and to use the images on our website or in forthcoming publications.

Please email siri.press@live.co.uk if you have any enquiries.

Siri Scientific Services (including Siri Scientific Press)

High Quality, Affordable Natural History Services for the Professional & Layman