“A tiny spider thought to have vanished for ever from the UK has been rediscovered on a remote area of a nature reserve accessible only by boat.

The Aulonia albimana, a member of the wolf spider family with orange legs, was found on the Isle of Wight in a spot grazed by a flock of Hebridean sheep.

It previously had no common name but has been called the white-knuckled wolf spider because of the distinctive pale ‘knuckles’ on its palps (the small leg-like appendages either side of the mouth) and the last-minute drama involved in finding it.

It was rediscovered more than a mile from its former colony at the National Trust’s Newtown national nature reserve by the entomologists Mark Telfer and Graeme Lyons. Telfer, who led the survey, said: ‘This is one of those unforgettable discoveries. To find a species thought lost for 40 years is thrilling.'”

From The Guardian.