A tiny wolf spider thought extinct in the UK has been rediscovered on the Isle of Wight, delighting conservationists.
The Aulonia albimana, now nicknamed 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 in the final minutes of a four-hour survey. The spider was last recorded in 1985.
The species thrives in open, sunlit grassland, which has been restored at the site through grazing by Hebridean sheep.
Helen Smith of the British Arachnological Society called the find “one of Britain’s lost species rediscoveries of the century.”
Conservationists will now study the population and habitat to help the rare spider expand its range and ensure its survival.
