New species of spider discovered in Cornwall

The new species has been named Anasaitis milesae

A species of spider, previously unknown to science, has been found in the grounds of a university campus in Cornwall.

The small jumping arachnid was discovered in 2023 during an annual nature survey to find and identify different species on the University of Exeter’s Penryn campus.

The University said several of the new species were collected and deemed "unlikely to be a Cornish native" - specimens were then sent to a spider expert at Manchester Museum, who confirmed they matched nothing in Europe.

The new species has been named Anasaitis milesae.

The spiders, previously unknown to science, were found at the University of Exeter’s Penryn campus

The University said they were related to another species of spiders found in the Caribbean, and had likely arrived in the UK on imported plants.

Student Finley Hutchinson said the spider was part of "over 500 species" found during the event.

He said: "I was brought a few specimens of the spider that were found by members of the public, kind of looked at them and gone 'what is that?'.

'Quite amazing'

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

“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.”

Mr Berry said it was "quite amazing that a new species to science has been found in the UK".

He 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?”