Newsbrief: Hampstead spider

A colony of rare spiders related to the bird-eating tarantula has been rediscovered on an isolated part of Hampstead Heath where it was last seen in 1892. The 1in-long tube web spider - atypus affinis - catches its prey by weaving a sealed, sock-shaped web, waiting for insects to crawl across, then biting them with its fangs and dragging them through it.