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Huge spider assumed extinct spotted in UK for first time in 25 years

One of the UK's largest and most endangered spiders has been spotted for the first time in more than 25 years.

The great fox-spider is listed as "critically endangered" and was feared to be extinct in the UK before it was rediscovered at a Ministry of Defence (MoD) training area in Surrey.

Previously it had not been seen since the early 1990s and had only ever been found at three sites in Dorset and Surrey.

Mike Waite, from the Surrey Wildlife Trust, said he was "over the moon" with the discovery.

He said: "The Great Fox-Spider has not been seen since 1993 and was feared to be extinct. The spider is at the very edge of its range in the UK, which accounts for its super rarity here. This formidable-looking creature is an impressive beast, perfectly camouflaged and also largely nocturnal, and for all its size it has been remarkably elusive.

“I am naturally over-the-moon to have finally proved the continued existence of the Great Fox-Spider in the UK. Although I’ve always held a latent interest in spiders, as a bona-fide arachnologist, I am still a relative newbie, so am doubly pleased to have made this important contribution to our scientific knowledge. "

The arachnid-enthusiast spent two years searching late at night for the creature. Finally, he discovered some unidentifiable immature spiderlings on MoD land managed by the Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust.

He then found several mature males and one female great fox-spider, which was 55mm, or just over two inches, in diameter including its hairy, spiny legs.

The great fox-spider Alopecosa fabrilis is one of the largest of the wolf-spider Lycosidae family of spiders. It is an opportunistic predator which hunts at night and is named for its wolf-like habit of chasing down its prey, across sandy terrain, over gravel and rocks before pouncing and capturing insects on the run.

The spider has eight black eyes and will immobilise its prey, including beetles, ants and smaller spiders, by injecting them with venom which liquifies the internal organs of the insect.

They shelter in silk-lined burrows or holes under rocks and Mr Waite now plans to continue his study to gauge the size of the population.

Nick Baker, naturalist, TV presenter and president of the British Arachnological Society, said: "The prefix 'great' doesn't seem to do it justice, maybe it should be the fabulous, or fantastic fox-spider.

"Even if the back story of its rarity and its rediscovery wasn't taken into count, this spider is mega. It's about as handsome as a spider gets, it's big and now it's officially a member of the British fauna again.

"The rediscovery of the great fox-spider is indeed the most exciting thing to happen in wildlife circles for quite some time. Glad it's in safe hands."

Reference: Mirror: Jamie Hawkins  1 day ago

These Tiny, Little-Winged Dinosaurs Were Probably Worse at Flying Than Chickens

The discovery of two small dinosaurs with bat-like wings a few years ago was a palaeontologist's dream. Just how flight evolved in birds is something we're still trying to nail down, and looking at this early evolution of bat-like wings in dinosaurs could give us a clue.  

But a team of researchers has now pointed out that just because you have wings, it doesn't necessarily mean you're actually any good at flying.

Yi qi and Ambopteryx longibrachium are two species of theropod dinosaurs that lived around 160 million years ago, both of which had unusually elongated fingers, and a skin membrane stretching between them, similar to a bat's wing.

This is an entirely different kind of wing to the one theropod dinosaurs evolved to fly with – the dinosaurs that eventually became birds. And, unlike them, after only a few million years, Yi and Ambopteryx became extinct, which is the first hint that these unusual wings could not match those birds-to-be. 

However, weird wings on extinct critters mean it's likely multiple types of wings (and therefore flight) evolved over the years, and that Yi and Ambopteryx's attempts were not the winning strategy.

But before you can write off Yi and Ambopteryx as complete evolutionary flight failures, you have to know how good (or bad, as the case may be) the two species were at flight.

In 2015, when Yi was found, that team of researchers suggested that the size of its wings and other flight characteristics could mean it was a gliding creature – however it's unlike any other glider we know of, and its centre of mass might have made even gliding difficult. We just weren't sure.

A new study, by researchers in the US and China, has now looked into the flight potential of Yi and Ambopteryx in a lot more detail, and come to the conclusion that they really weren't good at getting their little feet off the trees they lived in.

"Using laser-stimulated fluorescence imaging, we re-evaluate their anatomy and perform aerodynamic calculations covering flight potential, other wing-based behaviours, and gliding capabilities," the team writes.

"We find that Yi and Ambopteryx were likely arboreal, highly unlikely to have any form of powered flight, and had significant deficiencies in flapping-based locomotion and limited gliding abilities."

The team's analysis of the fossils (Yi pictured below) was able to pick up tiny details in soft-tissue that you can't see with normal light.

Then the team modelled how the dinosaurs might have flown, adjusting for things such as weight, wingspan, and muscle placement (all stuff we can't tell just from the fossils).

The results were… underwhelming.

"They really can't do powered flight," says first author, biologist Thomas Dececchi from Mount Marty University.

"You have to give them extremely generous assumptions in how they can flap their wings. You basically have to model them as the biggest bat, make them the lightest weight, make them flap as fast as a really fast bird, and give them muscles higher than they were likely to have had to cross that threshold. They could glide, but even their gliding wasn't great."

So, according to Dececchi and his team's model, we're looking at flying capabilities considerably worse than a chicken, perhaps worse than the flightless New Zealand parrot, the kakapo, which is also mostly limited to gliding from trees, but can at least flap to control descent.

But although it's a bit sad for the Yi and Ambopteryx, it's good news for us – the findings give even more evidence that dinosaurs evolved flight (or at least tried to) multiple times.

As the team points out, considering all the types of bats, gliders, flying squirrels, and other gliding or flying mammals, maybe it shouldn't be a surprise.

"We propose that this clade was an independent colonisation of the aerial realm for non-avialan theropods. If true, this would represent at least two, but more likely three or more attempts at flight (both powered and gliding) by small pennaraptoran theropods during the Mesozoic," the team writes in their paper.

"Given the large number of independent occurrences of gliding flight within crown mammals, this should perhaps be unsurprising, but it does create a more complex picture of the aerial ecosystem."

Seems like some things don't change much, even in a hundred million years. 

Toxic algae blamed for 'massive die-off' of sealife in Russian wilderness

Russia has blamed toxic algae for the mass death of marine life in a remote volcanic area of northeastern Russia, rather than it being a man-made disaster.

Greenpeace said there had been a "massive die-off" or organisms in the Kamchatka region earlier this month.

It said carcasses of animals were washing up on the beaches and that seawater had changed colour and started to smell.

Surfers had also reported sore throats and eyes, as well as vomiting, according to the environmental group.

Greenpeace found "yellowish foam" on the water's surface, but said an analysis of samples taken alongside Russian authorities "gave little clue".

It said possibilities included natural causes - "such as toxic phytoplankton growth, seismic or volcanic activity" - but that man-made actions could also be responsible such as "toxic waste dumping, a fuel spill or tanker accident, or military activity".

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said the pollution appeared to be caused by a highly soluble substance.

Russian authorities now believe a naturally-occurring algae is the most likely cause, according to the country's TASS news agency, but questions remain over why the effects were so severe.

"It was the toxicity of the algae at this period of time," said natural resources minister Dmitry Kobylkin.

"But what the algae was responding to is probably the most interesting and important question because we would like to look at why there was a fall in oxygen in the water... I don't have an answer to this yet," he said.

Russia's investigative committee, which had opened a criminal case, said they were also treating naturally-occurring algae as the most likely cause.

It said elevated levels of phenols - an oil product - in the water weren't critical and had been found in the area since 1970.

Greenpeace has warned that even if the incident was a natural event, Russia needs to do more to protect its huge natural wildernesses.

The group said its investigation in Kamchatka had uncovered many environmental problems that could be a threat in future, such as dangerous landfills with hazardous waste.

It also pointed to the spilling of thousands of tonnes of oil products in Taimyr, Siberia, in May as an example of what can go wrong.

Reference: Sky News: 1 day ago

Extremely rare puppy born with green fur thanks to pigment in mother's womb

An extremely rare puppy was born with green fur thanks to a pigment in his mother's womb.

The aptly-named pup Pistachio was born as part of a litter of five earlier this month.

While his siblings were all born with creamy white fur, Pistachio had a very obvious green tinge to his.

He was born on a Sardinian farm, with owner Cristian Mallocci saying he couldn't believe his eyes when one of his eight dogs gave birth to the rare pup.

The adorable cross-breed's tinting comes from a pigment called biliverdin, which can be found in the placenta of dogs.

Biliverdin can be dislodged during the birthing process and mixes with the amniotic fluid surrounding the puppy in the mother's womb.

If the levels of Biliverdin are particularly high, the pigment can then stain the puppy's coat.

There are no known health risks of the pigment and the green tinge eventually fades as the puppy grows.

Last year a baffled dog owner was given the shock of her life when one of her dog's nine puppies was born with green fur.

Joanna Justice, 43, from Wermelskirchen, in northern Germany, was at first shocked when her pet Melody gave birth to one green-tinted pup amongst the litter.

She decided to honour the Golden Retriever pup's mint-coloured hue by naming the dog 'Mojito'.

She said: "I was very worried at first when he was born. But we are pleased all nine puppies are well."