A tiny spider thought extinct in the UK has been rediscovered on the Isle of Wight, thrilling conservationists.
The Aulonia albimana, now dubbed the white-knuckled wolf spider for the pale joints on its palps, was found at the National Trust’s Newtown national nature reserve — a remote site accessible only by boat.
Entomologists Mark Telfer and Graeme Lyons made the discovery just minutes before their boat was due to leave. The spider was last seen in Britain in 1985.
Wolf spiders are known for chasing down prey, but this species’ hunting behaviour remains a mystery. The rediscovery followed years of habitat restoration, with Hebridean sheep grazing the area to create the open, sunlit turf the spider prefers.
Helen Smith of the British Arachnological Society called it “one of Britain’s lost species rediscoveries of the century.”
The next step will be to survey the population and determine how to secure the species’ future on the island.
