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Dur­ing a research project on ground bee­tles in a nature reserve called ‘het Groote Meer’ in the Dutch province Noord-​Brabant a new spi­der species was dis­cov­ered recently. This spi­der, Zelotes aeneus, is new to the Dutch envi­ron­ment, but has already been spot­ted in Bel­gium regularly.

The spi­ders’ habi­tat exists of rocks and humus on a rocky bed­ding and prairies with low veg­e­ta­tion. The place the spi­der has been found, is part of a cross bor­der park called ‘de Zoom Kalmthoutse Heide’. The Dutch nature con­ser­va­tion foun­da­tion ‘Natu­ur­mon­u­menten’ is work­ing together with Bel­gian col­leagues to increase, improve and join the moor­land with drift sand areas. The find­ing of the spi­der is a per­fect exam­ple of the effect of con­nect­ing nature reserves, which allows ani­mals to expand their ter­ri­tory. (Source: web­site Natuurmonumenten)