It has been quarter of a century, but the money spider is back.
The rare creature has been spotted in Inverness-shire over 25 years after it was first recorded west of the Great Glen.
The adult male of the species Hilaira nubigena was discovered at Trees for Life’s Dundreggan Conservation Estate in Glenmoriston during a survey undertaken at the native forest restoration site.
Edward Milner, who has been studying spiders for years, identified the spider.
He said: “This really spectacular find shows that the habitat at Dundreggan is rather special.”
“Some of the spider species that we find in the montane woodland on the estate are also found in the Arctic.
“They are adapted to surviving the extreme conditions that we can experience here. I last saw this spider near the summit of Liathach in Wester Ross in June 1986.”
The few recent records of Hilaira nubigena in Scotland are all from south of the Great Glen, with a few records from mountains on the west coast.
It has only been recorded from 14 sites throughout Scotland, including a recent one above 500m in the Carrifran Valley near Moffat.
Doug Gilbert, Trees for Life’s Operations Manager at Dundreggan, said: “Discovering another rare species in this corner of the Highlands highlights why it’s so important to protect and restore the Caledonian Forest, with its important but vanishing habitats like montane woodland.
“We hope to carry out further work to find out more about the fascinating species living on Scotland’s highest hills. We’ve already recorded several interesting montane spiders at Dundreggan, and we suspect others are waiting to be found.”
The money spider family is a large group of small to minute spiders mostly under 5mm long. Their name comes from the folklore that it’s lucky to get one caught in your hair – and will bring you increased wealth.