One of the world’s rarest spiders, which has only been found in two quarries in one British coastal city, could become extinct if plans to build a housing estate go ahead, conservationists are warning.
The horrid ground-weaver, a money spider measuring 2.5mm, has only ever been spotted in two limestone quarries in Plymouth, Devon.
One of the quarries has already been concreted over and developers are now trying to get the go-ahead to build on the other site, Radford Quarry. City planners have rejected the plans but the scheme will be the subject of a planning inquiry starting next week.
More than 2,000 people have signed a petition calling for the plans to be shelved. The conservation charity Buglife said developing the site could spell the end for the tiny spider, which gets its name from the Latin word for bristly (horridus).
Andrew Whitehouse, of Buglife, said: “The horrid ground-weaver is an extremely rare species. It is amazing that one of the world’s rarest spiders is only found in Plymouth – and that is why Radford Quarry is of global significance for wildlife. Failure to protect this site could be catastrophic for this tiny spider. This site is critical to the spider’s survival.”
Nothophantes horridus is tricky to find due to its size and its habit of living deep in the cracks and crevices of the limestone. It is thought it only comes out at night to hunt on the rock slopes.
Plymouth city council states in its brief entry about the spider on its website: “It is thought that this species may live underground and that the quarries may have exposed some of its habitat. Very little else is known about this species. No photographs of this species are available at present.”
No one from the developers, Wainhomes, was available for comment.
