Taxonomy
The species was first described by arachnologist Carl Alexander Clerck in 1757 as Araneus plantarius. Its genus was reclassified by Pierre André Latreille in 1804 to Dolomedes. The species has also been described under the name Aranea viridata by Müller and as Dolomedes riparius by Hahn.
The species is currently recognised as Dolomedes plantarius and has two widely recognised common names; the great raft spider and the fen raft spider.
Read more about this topic: Great Raft Spider