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Arachnophobes, look away! A new species of spider has been discovered on Brighton beach – and experts warn it is likely to spread across the UK
- Heliophanus Kochii is normally found in warmer parts of the world
- It has surfaced on Brighton beach, although it is unclear how it got there
A new species of spider has been found on a UK beach – and experts predict it is likely to spread across the UK.
The jumping spider, Heliophanus Kochii, is normally found in warmer parts of the world, such as the Canary Islands, Morocco, the Azores, France, Portugal, Israel and Azerbaijan.
However, it has now turned up on Brighton Beach, in East Sussex.
It’s not known how the spider made it to the UK, but it’s possible the spotted arachnid may have blown across the Channel.
It was discovered lurking in the roots of yellow-horned poppies by ecologist Graeme Lyons, who tracked insects at Black Rock, Brighton.
A new species of spider has been found on a UK beach – and experts predict it is likely to spread across the UK
The jumping spider, Heliophanus Kochii, is normally found in warmer parts of the world, such as the Canary Islands, Morocco, the Azores, France, Portugal, Israel and Azerbaijan
Mr Lyons said he found three spiders in one sample of the plants. He said, ‘Obviously it was a Heliophanus, but not one I recognised’
Mr Lyons said he found three spiders in one sample of the plants.
He said, ‘Obviously it was a Heliophanus, but not one I recognised.
“For starters, it had very distinct and conspicuous black legs covered in white spots, as well as white-spotted black palps.”
At first he thought it was a very rare species that had never been seen in Sussex before.
But when he got home and checked it against records, he realized the species was completely new to the UK.
Fortunately, arachnophobes need not fear the spider’s bite, as it is not dangerous.
Mr Lyons said: ‘Are there questions like ‘is it dangerous?’ can get into the sea.
‘It’s about 5mm long at most and about as dangerous as our other 40 or so jumping spiders.
It’s not known how the spider reached the UK, but it’s possible the spotted arachnid may have blown across the Channel
It was discovered lurking in the roots of yellow-horned poppies by ecologist Graeme Lyons, who was monitoring insects at Black Rock, Brighton
The spotted jumping spider Kochii was also found in Buffalo, New York State in 2014, marking the first time a jumping spider of the genus Heliophanus of any type has been found in the Western Hemisphere
“It probably flew across the Channel like a balloon and colonized naturally, given its location.
‘How cool is that? Very happy to have found this!’
So far there have been 650 species of spiders in the UK, of which only 12 bite.
The spotted jumping spider Kochii was also found in Buffalo, New York State in 2014, marking the first time a jumping spider of the genus Heliophanus of any type had been found in the Western Hemisphere.