4th Record For Cryptachaea blattea in the UK

On the evening of the 16th Sept 2016 I was in my garden, headlamp on, checking the Nigma puella spiderlings on the buddleia, scanning amongst the flowerbeds, the usual stuff us arachnid enthusiasts get up to. After about a hour I called it a night and headed indoors. On the way in, my torch shone on a spider travelling along a silk line from my conservatory to a fence. As usual, I had no collecting tubes on me and ran indoors to pick up a container. When I got back outside, it took me probably 5 minutes to locate the spider again. I collected the specimen, had a quick look under a hand lens and assumed it was a male Parasteatoda sp. It wasn't until the following morning that I had a proper look at a very small male adult spider and started to doubt my original assumption of Parasteatoda species. I'm not an expert when It comes to identification but something didn't look right. I took some photos which weren't easy due to it's size and the fact it wouldn't play the game and smile for the camera! I posted them on some forums and and social media and a few suggestions were thrown at me, Cryptachaea sp. being the most obscure. I checked SRS for Cryptachaea sp. and saw that there was one species showing on the mainland, Cryptachaea blattea and then I got goosepimples!! This spider had only been recorded three times in the UK and am I really to believe that one has virtually dropped into my lap. It was maybe a couple of days later, after I had dismissed any thoughts that my mystery spider was a C.blattea, that I posted my photos to Matt Prince via Twitter. Matt is the area organiser for VC 3 and 4 and replied to my photos fairly sharpish. He's response was a bolt from the blue! "Is that a tubercle on it's back?" To which I replied, "what, are you thinking, Ero species? this spider is lacking the distinctive leg spines of Ero species" and finally Matt dropped the bomb, " nah, Cryptachaea " Now, if you don't know, Matt found one of the previous Cryptachaea blattea's, in Plymouth I believe. So I sent my specimen off to Matt and waited in anticipation and stressing that the Royal Mail wasn't going to let me down. After what seemed like a lifetime (hmm, does that sound dramatic) I received a tweet from Matt and I was a very happy chappy. My mystery spider was indeed a Cryptachaea blattea and only the 4th record for the UK.