A large spider which resembles a black widow is spreading rapidly across the world – including the UK – threatening native wildlife species, warn German and British scientists. The Noble False Widow, Steatoda nobilis, native to Madeira and the Canary Islands, has been present in the South of England for more than a hundred years. Specifically, biologists at the University of Manchester fear they'll attack 'vulnerable native species' in their new environments - prey much larger than the spider's own size. Members of the public have been contributing their observations to a large dataset of False Widow records for the British Arachnological Society’s Spider Recording Scheme.' In the paper, they describe how they used use computer modelling to predict favourable habitats for future false widow invasions, based on present occurrence patterns.

Source: Daily Mail February 25, 2019 12:22 UTC