Previously undiscovered jumping spider species found in Cornwall

A new species of jumping spider has been discovered in Cornwall.

The arachnid, measuring just 4mm long, was found during a nature survey being carried out on the University of Exeter's Penryn Campus.

Experts thought the species, which has been named Anasaitis milesae, was unlikely to be a Cornish native, so they sent it to a jumping spider expert in Manchester.

No record of the species was found anywhere in the world – but, experts found it was related to other Caribbean species, so may have arrived in the UK on imported plants.

The spider was among 500 other species found during the survey.

“A few of these spiders were found by members of the public during the sweep-netting event", said Finley Hutchinson, a BSc Conservation Biology and Ecology student at the University of Exeter.

“I hadn’t seen anything like them before, and neither had Cornish spider expert Tylan Berry.

“So Tylan went out and found some more later the same day, and he and I collected many more from tree ferns near Lime Avenue on campus a couple of weeks later.”

“The jumping spider family is the largest spider family in the world, so narrowing it down beyond that took much longer.

“However, eventually he identified them as a member of the Caribbean genus Anasaitis, but not a known species.

“So, strangely, this species has not been formally identified in its native range – so the only records in the world are on the Penryn Campus, and another recent record in Penzance.”

Although there is no common name for the species, Mr Berry is calling it the ‘Tremough Jumper’.

”It’s quite amazing that a new species to science has been found in the UK,” Mr Berry said.

“This very rarely happens in modern times as the county is very well studied as far as spiders go. Who knew a pretty little 4mm jumping spider would be hiding in front of our eyes?”