Overview
- Entomologists Mark Telfer and Graeme Lyons located Aulonia albimana at the National Trust’s Newtown National Nature Reserve.
- Individuals were found in a remote, overgrown area accessible only by boat, roughly 2km from the species’ former colony.
- The species was last recorded in Britain in 1985 and had been considered likely extinct locally by arachnologists.
- The team spotted the spiders in the final minutes of a short survey window, securing the first digital photographs of the species in the UK.
- Conservation groups plan follow-up surveys to determine population extent and refine management to support its recovery.