English readers will be horrified to know that the Rosser’s sac spider still lives amongst them. Thought to be extinct in England, the spider was recently spotted, alive, well, and probably plotting evil.
For the most part, the extinction of species through destruction of habitat is a sad thing. Well-reasoned environmental papers, impassioned public pleas, and strangely upbeat Joni Mitchell songs have been written about the subject. The dark cloud of human environmental destruction has a tiny silver lining in that every now and then it destroys something awful.
The Rosser’s sac spider, and tiny, light-brown horror that could be creeping up your sleeve right now, was spotted in the English wetlands in Suffolk in the 1950s. Reacting sensibly, the English government drained the wetlands to make farmland and the spider was never heard from again. That is, until a gentleman named Ian Dawson spotted one in Cambridgeshire in September and ten more in October.
The Rosser’s sac spider generally is hard to spot, because it doesn’t put up webs. Instead it sleeps in leaves and hunts by ‘creeping up’ on prey. It is confined to wetlands, and since wetlands are vulnerable to drought, industrial pollution, and drainage, the Rosser’s sac spider is globally endangered. Io9 exhorts British readers to descend upon the small fragments of English wetland with rolled up newspapers and souls of tempered steel. With just a little work, the Rosser’s sac spider can be truly extinct in your fair land. Keep calm and crush on.
Via the BBC.
