Summary details for Ballus chalybeius (Walckenaer, 1802)

Species Details

Species name: Ballus chalybeius (Walckenaer, 1802)
Synonyms: Ballus depressa, Ballus depressus (Walckenaer, 1802), Ballus obscurus Blackwall
Taxonomy: Animalia :: Araneae :: Salticidae
habitat: arboreal

Distribution

The species is widespread in south-eastern England, but otherwise has a scattered distribution across southern England and Wales, being recorded as far north as Leicestershire and North Wales, with old records for Durham. It is widespread in western and central Europe, but has not been recorded from Ireland.

Habitat and ecology

Woodland and scrub. B. chalybeius favours a woodland habitat where it spins a retreat on the upper surface of leaves of bushes and young trees, particularly oak. Adults are found mainly from late spring to mid-summer.

Status

Recorded from 73 hectads since 1992, showing a clear increase in records in recent years.

Threats

There is a general threat to spiders of broad-leaved woodland from loss of habitat due to urban and agricultural development.

Management and conservation

Protect woodland sites from destruction. Text based on Dawson, I.K., Harvey, P.R., Merrett, P. & Russell-Smith, A.R. (in prep.).

Stats

First recorded: 1899
Last recorded: 2025
Total records: 906
Total visits: 889

Conservation status

Ballus chalybeius

Source	Reporting category	Designation	Date designated	Comments
A Review of the scarce and threatened spiders (Araneae) of Great Britain: Species Status No. 22 (Sep 2017)	Rare and scarce species	Nationally Scarce. Includes Red Listed taxa	01/09/2017
A Review of the scarce and threatened spiders (Araneae) of Great Britain: Species Status No. 22 (Sep 2017)	Red listing based on 2001 IUCN guidelines	Least concern	01/09/2017	Threats: There is a general threat to spiders of broad-leaved woodland from loss of habitat due to urban and agricultural development.

Photos and media

Spatial distribution - hectad map

Click on one of the date ranges in the key to highlight that particular range. Click anywhere else on the map to go back to all three date ranges.

Thresholds:

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Rejected records are excluded from this map. Unverified records are included.

Temporal distribution - records by year

Records that span more than one year are not included in this chart.