If you have arachnophobia, the effects of climate change may be even worse for you.
According to experts, hotter temperatures in Britain are providing perfect living conditions for spiders that have come from abroad.
Many of these have hitched a lift aboard shipping vessels from far-flung regions such as the Caribbean and Australia, likely on imported plants.
And as conditions get ever hotter, we could expect an influx of more spider species in the years to come – especially in southernmost counties like Devon and Cornwall.
It follows the discovery of a new arachnid species found on a Cornwall university campus last year that’s capable of suddenly jumping.
Britain should brace for an influx of exotic spiders, scientists say as a new species of arachnid is found in Cornwall, called Anasaitis milesae. Pictured, a Anasaitis milesae female
No record of Anasaitis milesae was found anywhere in the world – but it is related to other species known in the Caribbean, so probably arrived in the UK on imported plants
Dr Helen Smith, conservation officer for the British Arachnological Society, said ‘there’s very little we can do’ to stop spiders from arriving.
‘Tied in to the warming of the climate, different species can get a hold in particularly areas and change ecosystems quite quickly,’ she told the Guardian.
‘As new, exotic species spread, particularly beyond urban areas, the chances of them impacting on less common native species increase.’
According to Dr Smith, these invasive spider species are competing with Britain’s native spiders for prey and living space.
Around 15 per cent of our native spider species are already threatened with extinction as a result of habitat loss and climate change.
So the arrival of these other species that are better adapted to warmer temperatures could speed up the demise of our British arachnids.
One of these arrivals is Anasaitis milesae, a type of jumping spider – meaning it’s capable of spectacular leaps when pouncing on their prey or escaping from danger.
British Arachnological Society expert Tylan Berry uncovered it on the University of Exeter’s Cornwall campus in Penryn. Pictured, a Anasaitis milesae male
Anasaitis milesae is thought to have come from the Caribbean region – but it’s been described as a new species after being spotted in Cornwall last year.
British Arachnological Society expert Tylan Berry uncovered it on the University of Exeter’s Cornwall campus in Penryn.
He said it is ‘new to Cornwall, new to the UK and new to science’ and likely came to British shores ‘via imported plants’.
Anasaitis milesae is now ‘widely established’ in a garden or parkland setting and ‘really easy to find’ by beating back shrubs and lower tree branches.
The species has just been described in a new paper by Dr Dmitri Logunov, an arachnologist and curator at the Manchester Museum.
Another spider species from Australia and New Zealand – Badumna longinqua, also known as the grey house spider – is also spreading throughout Britain, having been known about down under for decades.
It has been spotted in Wales, Nottinghamshire, Tyne and Wear, Cornwall and Devon, where it’s ‘incredibly well-established in Plymouth’, according to Mr Berry.
‘It’s spread over a 6km/square area [2.3 square miles] and in some places is the dominant species,’ he said.
Badumna longinqua, also known as the grey house spider, is also spreading throughout Britain. The species is pictured here devouring a wasp in Rotorua, New Zealand
Another new arrival is the false wolf spider (Zoropsis spinimana), a Mediterranean species that’s ‘thriving’ in London houses
Early British sightings of the grey house spider in 2021 were close to ports or garden centres, suggesting it arrived on imported plants too.
Another new arrival is the false wolf spider (Zoropsis spinimana), a Mediterranean species that’s ‘thriving’ in London houses.
It can penetrate the human skin with its chelicerae and produce a painful bite, according to British Arachnological Society, although such bites are ‘unlikely’.
But the ‘most dangerous’ spider in Britain is usually said to be the noble false widow (Steatoda nobilis), which causes pain and swelling when it bites humans.
The noble false widow was first recorded in the UK in the 1870s and was likely a stowaway on cargo ships from its native Madeira and Canary Islands.