Save Our Spider from extinction

Introduction

The project is going to undertake urgent research to stop the global extinction of the Horrid ground weaver spider, a tiny little money spider that lives in Plymouth, and nowhere else in the world. 

The Horrid ground weaver is one of the rarest spiders in the world and is threatened with extinction. It had been found in three places in Plymouth, but one of those was destroyed when it was turned into an industrial site. Now, it is possible that the second site may also be lost to a development of 57 houses. 

We desperately need to find out if this elusive spiders lives anywhere else, so we're going to survey similar habitats. We need to try to learn more about what it needs. What food it eats, where it nests and the easiest ways of finding it, we will be able to use this information to put together an emergency conservation plan. 

We have only a short time frame in which to do this. Survey work needs to take place between March and April (as this is when the spider has previously been found), so we have until the end of February to raise this money. 

What your donation will do

We'll be able to pay for a spider expert, to search for the spider with volunteers in other potential hot spots. We’ll be able to trial a number of different search techniques to find the most efficient way of finding this spider. If we can find it in other places – we might have a chance at guaranteeing its survival.

We’ll be able to find out about its ecology, and how it lives, with that we’ll be able to come up with recommendations to best manage those sites in order to make sure that it thrives there.

About Buglife

Buglife is the only organisation in Europe devoted to the conservation of all invertebrates. We're actively working to save Britain’s rarest little animals, everything from bees to beetles, worms to woodlice and jumping spiders to jellyfish. https://buglife.org.uk/