Buckspoor spider lives here

The female buckspoor spider (Afrikaans bokspoorspinnekop) burrows in the sand, announcing her presence via the shape seen here. The genus, Seothyra of the Eresidae family comprises 13 species of sand-dwelling spiders, all endemic to southern Africa.

Seothyra occur in Botswana and Namibia, in South Africa from Limpopo to the Tankwa Karoo and the Little Karoo, mainly in arid parts and on dunes. The photo was taken near Oudtshoorn in August.

These spiders get active when it is hot. The sexes are quite different. The tiny males are seldom seen. They resemble sugar ants and velvet ants in both appearance and habit.

The female constructs a burrow to live in and hunt from that can be spotted above-ground from the “buckspoor” marking in the sand. Every species of Seothyra seems to have its own shape of buckspoor.

The underground structure has silk-ring walls up to 15 cm deep, the burrow straight or curved. Sand particles are tied together using silk emitted from the spinneret of the female’s body to fashion bundles of sand grains in silk sheets to form “bricks” or mats, spun into walls. The mats are constructed with slits around them, some serving as flaps or doors. At the top of the structure the mats cover shallow and symmetrically placed depressions linked to the main burrow.

Repeated opening of the silky flaps creates the characteristically shaped impression or buckspoor in the sand, indicating the presence of a burrow where one female spider lives. Sticky silk threads along the margins of the mats serve to capture small insects, arachnids and other edible visitors.

A Seothyra mother invests much in her house that is susceptible to damage by strong winds or heavy rainfall. The loss of a web may prove fatal to a homeless female.

Seothyra spiders have been around for a long time. Fossilized sheet webs of around 16 million years ago have been found, similar to what these spiders produce today (Wikipedia).