Saturday 26 May 2018

Is this hairy crab the newest species found in the UK?

A colony of exploding ants, a shrimp that's been named after prog rockers Pink Floyd, four types of miniature night frog and a coconut-cracking giant rat - these are just some of the new species discovered in the past year.
While all of these exotic creatures were found many thousands of miles away from Britain, such discoveries aren't the preserve of scientists in the remotest part of some far-flung wilderness. In fact, it's estimated there are thousands of species yet to be identified in the UK alone - and many millions globally.
The hairy crab that's potentially the latest new-to-science domestic discovery was collected by naturalist and photographer Steve Trewhella on Chesil Beach, near Weymouth, in Dorset.
The 2cm-wide creature was found living inside a polystyrene buoy that washed ashore following a storm and is suspected to have travelled across the Atlantic from the Caribbean.
Mr Trewhella, who has sent the crab to the Natural History Museum for identification, hopes the tiny crustacean could prove to be his greatest success story.=read more

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