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Spider Web in a forest ground StGrafix via Getty Images\/iStockphoto<\/p>\n
Last year, the RSPB joyfully announced<\/a> it had been successful in bringing huge, fish-eating fen raft spiders back from the brink of extinction (apparently on purpose).<\/p>\n The rat-sized arachnids<\/a> are crucial for delicate marsh and wetlands ecosystems, it seems.<\/p>\n But per wildlife researcher Adele Brand, it turns out we\u2019ve also had tarantulas in the UK the whole time, too.<\/p>\n It\u2019s just that\u00a0our one species belonging to the \u2018tarantula\u2019 family\u00a0<\/a>\u2013 a broad term that refers to multiple large, hairy spiders \u2013 hides in a sock-like home.<\/p>\n Wait, are there tarantulas in the UK?<\/p>\n Brand told Countryfile<\/a> that we have one species that belongs to the order that tarantulas are in: the purseweb spider (Atypus affinis). She called it \u201cBritain\u2019s only\u00a0tarantula<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n They live exceptionally long for a spider \u2013<\/a>\u00a0about seven years\u00a0\u2013 and are most visible in autumn, when the male spiders go out looking for a mate.<\/p>\n The length of the female purseweb spider\u2019s body, that is, without the legs, can be almost 2cm<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt spends most of its life inside [a] silken tube, which has variously been compared to an old purse and a dirty sock \u2013 hence its name,\u201d Brand shared.<\/p>\n This web, which can reach 25cm, mostly hides underground, with only the top third or so peeking above it.<\/p>\n It sits in wait in its tube until a passing beetle or other prey sends vibration down its sock-like home; only then does it pounce on its food.<\/p>\n In other words, purseweb spiders work from home and, as Brand joked<\/a>, survive on delivered takeaways (hey, maybe we\u2019d get on better than I thought).<\/p>\n Where are purseweb spiders in the UK?<\/p>\n