British arachnophobes look away now as brand new jumping spiders have been found on UK shores.
A nature reserve in Suffolk is crawling with the eight-legged creepers as 55 different species have put down webs and made the site their home, a survey showed.
The rare jumping spider, the Neon pictus, was found in Orford Ness and has been dubbed the real life incy wincy spider, as they typically measure just 3mm.
Richard Gallon from the British Arachnological Society said: “Jumping spiders in particular are sun-worshippers, and tend to hide away in poor weather, so we weren’t expecting to find many of these.
“We were delighted to find this species at Orford, as it extends the known UK range of this nationally rare species into East Anglia.”
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The British Arachnological Society carried out two surveys this year at the nature reserve in Suffolk and discovered 12 natioanlly rare or scarce spiders.
One of the rarest spiders, the Gnaphosa lugubris, has only been spotted 69 times in the UK since 1900.
But, it is apparently thriving and several thousand are thought to have made their home in the coastal grass of Orford Ness, experts said.
Matt Wilson, National Trust’s Countryside Manager for Suffolk and Essex Coast, says: “It’s great to have identified a new species of spider on Orford Ness along with confirming that the other rare species last recorded in the early 2000’s can still be found here.
“Whilst the photographs we have may make them look fierce, many are so small that they were unlikely to have been found by non-experts and their equipment.”
Thankfully, experts said that none of these spiders pose a threat to humans.
Orford Ness is a former 20th Century military testing site and the largest shingle spit in Europe, but is now closed to the public until April 2025.
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