Excitingly, this species \u2013 which is just 3mm in length \u2013 has just been found for the first time in Suffolk, England, hanging out in an old military testing site.<\/p>
On a spit of land next to the North Sea, against a backdrop of abandoned buildings once used for atomic bomb research, surveyors from the British Arachnological Society<\/a> found an individual\u00a0Neon pictus\u00a0<\/em>spider clinging to the underside of a rock.<\/p> The location of the survey was Orford Ness, a military testing site that was bought by the National Trust in the 1990s and has since been managed as a nature reserve. Its vegetated shingle habitat is rare and fragile, and makes the site of international conservation importance.<\/p> Richard Gallon, one of the surveyors, said that finding a\u00a0Neon pictus\u00a0<\/em>specimen was a real highlight.<\/p> It\u2019s no mean feat that the surveyors managed to find a specimen during their rainy expedition, given that this tiny species are sun-worshippers that often hide away during bad weather. \u201cWe were delighted to find this species at Orford,\u201d Richard says, adding that \u201cit extends the known UK range of this nationally rare species into East Anglia.\u201d<\/p> Not only did the surveying team find the tiny jumping spider, but also four other spider species that are nationally rare, a further seven that are nationally scarce, and a total of 55 species.<\/p> \u201cThe presence of so many species, as well as their high numbers, indicates a generally healthy habitat,\u201d Matt Wilson, the National Trust\u2019s Countryside Manager for the Suffolk and Essex Coast, says.<\/p> Matt adds that \u201cmany species are so small that they were unlikely to have been found by non-experts and their equipment.\u201d<\/p> Still, next time you\u2019re out and about, why not keep an eye out for some of our smaller and easily overlooked eight-legged friends? Not only are they indicators of a healthy habitat, but as the photographs show, they\u2019re also quite cute.<\/p> Main image: a view of the wild and remote landscape through a window at Orford Ness, Suffolk\/National Trust Images, Jemma Finch<\/em><\/p> More wildlife stories from around the world<\/strong><\/p> The British Arachnological Society recorded a remarkable 55 species of spiders among the abandoned buildings. But that wasn’t all they discovered… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":43834,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"4"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/11\/when-arachnologists-visited-an-old-atomic-bomb-research-site-in-england-they-couldnt-believe-what-they-found.jpg",1875,1250,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/11\/when-arachnologists-visited-an-old-atomic-bomb-research-site-in-england-they-couldnt-believe-what-they-found-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/11\/when-arachnologists-visited-an-old-atomic-bomb-research-site-in-england-they-couldnt-believe-what-they-found-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/11\/when-arachnologists-visited-an-old-atomic-bomb-research-site-in-england-they-couldnt-believe-what-they-found-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/11\/when-arachnologists-visited-an-old-atomic-bomb-research-site-in-england-they-couldnt-believe-what-they-found-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/11\/when-arachnologists-visited-an-old-atomic-bomb-research-site-in-england-they-couldnt-believe-what-they-found-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/11\/when-arachnologists-visited-an-old-atomic-bomb-research-site-in-england-they-couldnt-believe-what-they-found.jpg",1875,1250,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"The British Arachnological Society recorded a remarkable 55 species of spiders among the abandoned buildings. But that wasn't all they discovered...","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/43833"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Spider survey<\/h2>
![\"The](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/62\/2024\/11\/Orford-Ness-Suffolk-is-home-to-a-number-of-rare-or-scare-spider-species-scaled.jpeg\")
Rare discoveries<\/h2>
![\"Experts](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/62\/2024\/11\/Experts-think-Orford-Ness-could-be-home-to-several-thousand-nationally-rare-Gnaphosa-lugubris-spiders.jpeg\")
![\"The](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/62\/2024\/11\/The-nationally-scarce-Pseudeuophrys-obsoleta-scaled.jpeg\")
![\"The](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/62\/2024\/11\/The-tiny-nationally-rare-Neon-pictus-spider-has-never-been-recorded-on-Orford-Ness-before-scaled.jpeg\")
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