19 May 2023

Critter of the Week: Bounty Island spider

From Afternoons, 3:35 pm on 19 May 2023

This week’s critter is the rare and elusive banded Bounty Island spider, Pacificana cockayni.

This spider only lives on the Bounty Islands – a remote and rugged collection of rocks far off the east coast of Te Waipounamu | the South Island. Like the other invertebrates on the islands, the spider makes its home amongst the debris left by seals and seabirds.

Bounty Island Spider

Bounty Island Spider Photo: supplied

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