Nurscia
Nurscia albosignata Simon, 1874
Euxinella strandi: Drensky, 1938: 569-573.
Order Araneae
Family Titanoecidae
Conservation status: in Bulgaria: Critically endangered CR.
General distribution. Bulgaria, Crimea, Georgia. Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan.
Distribution and abundance in Bulgaria. Registered in only 2 habitats along the Northern Black Sea shore, in the vicinities of Varna and Balchik [1, 2, 3, 4]. There are no data of the numbers of the population.
Habitats. It inhabits dry meadows and steppes.
Biology. It builds irregular nets between stones or between the stems of herbaceous vegetation. The sexually mature individuals appear in June. The cocoons, coloured in yellow, are oval, 1-1.4 mm in diameter and contain about 30-60 eggs. They are hidden under stones. The young ones hatch at the end of September and winter as sexually immature.
Similar species. Nurscia albomaculata (Lucas, 1846). It lives in the same habitats, has a similar biology. Distinguished by the presence of 6-7 pairs of white spots.
Negative factors. Loss and degradation of the major habitats; infrastructure development; tourism.
Conservation measures taken. The habitat in the region of Balchik is included in the territory of the Baltata reserve.
Conservation measures needed. Maintenance and preservation of the steppe habitats; studies on the biology and ecology of the population of the species, monitoring.
References. 1. Drensky, 1938; 2. Popov et al., 2000; 3. Deltshev & Blagoev, 2001.
Author: Christo Deltshev
