Conservationists hail ‘remarkable’ rediscovery after 40 years, at nature reserve only accessible by boat
A tiny spider thought to have vanished for ever from the UK has been rediscovered on a remote area of a nature reserve accessible only by boat.
The Aulonia albimana, a member of the wolf spider family with orange legs, was found on the Isle of Wight in a spot grazed by a flock of Hebridean sheep.
It previously had no common name but has been called the white-knuckled wolf spider because of the distinctive pale “knuckles” on its palps (the small leg-like appendages either side of the mouth) and the last-minute drama involved in finding it.
It was rediscovered more than a mile from its former colony at the National Trust’s Newtown national nature reserve by the entomologists Mark Telfer and Graeme Lyons. Telfer, who led the survey, said: “This is one of those unforgettable discoveries. To find a species thought lost for 40 years is thrilling.”
