A species of spider not previously thought to have been found in the UK was spotted on Brighton beach on Sunday.
The jumping spider, Heliophanus Kochii, was found by Brighton naturalist Graeme Lyons while he and his colleague Karen were monitoring species at the new shingle planting at Black Rock.
Mr Lyons, who is the county recorder for spiders and bugs, now says as the spider is likely to spread further throughout Brighton – and the UK.
On his blog, The Lyons Den, he said: “Karen pointed to a jumping spider in the tray and asked “what’s that?” There were three individuals in the tray from one suction sample.
“It was clearly a Heliophanus but not one I recognised. For a start, it had very obvious and striking black legs covered in white dots, as well as white-spotted black palps.
“I said it had to be Heliophanus auratus, a rare shingle species, as that was the only option (or so I thought). Which would have been a county first and a lifer.
“I jumped into the excellent website, Spiders of Europe (have a look here for a relevant species account) and closed in on species that were present just over the Channel but not yet in the UK.
“There it was, Heliophanus kochii.
“Another species moving north due to climate change then and looking at the European distribution, it likes warm and dry places, rather than being a shingle/coastal specialist. So, expect this to be spreading through the UK soon.
“Now, any questions along the likes of ‘is it dangerous?’ can get in the sea. It’s about 5mm long maximum and is about as dangerous as our other 40 or so jumping spiders.
“It mostly likely ballooned across the channel and colonised naturally, given the location.
“How cool is that? Very happy indeed to have found this.”
Oh no! Keep quiet about it or Suella Braverman will send it to Ruanda!
I think I can remember jumping spiders, in Worthing beaches, as a child, when Worthing had it’s bad seaweed problem! Am I right, with that memory?!?!