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Country diary: A lesson in camouflage from a cucumber spider | Spiders
The forecast had promised warm spring sunshine – ideal weather for a forest bathing class. Instead, a squally shower arrived without warning, and we ended up hugging tree trunks more out of necessity than mindfulness. In full leaf, the mature beech grove canopy would have kept us dry, but this early in the season, the leaves had only just unfurled, letting the rain through to saturate my jumper. For a while, we listened in silence as the foliage changed its voice, a dry whisper deepening into a steady, percussive patter.
Thankfully, the downpour passed as quickly as it had arrived. Light filtered through the leaves, and we drifted back along the path until the trees opened into a small clearing. The instructor suggested that we sit on a semi-circle of fallen trunks, urging us to feel the texture of the rough-stalked feather moss (Brachythecium rutabulum) cushioning our makeshift benches. Flasks were passed around, the nettle and chamomile tea offering a welcome warmth.
The woman beside me lifted her hat from her lap and paused, peering into its shallow crown. There was a cucumber spider inside. Its abdomen was just 5mm long but an eye-catching yellowish-green, with a conspicuous red mark just below the spinnerets.
Five species occur in Britain, but only two are common: Araniella cucurbitina, first described in 1757 by the Swedish arachnologist Carl Alexander Clerck as Araneus cucurbitinus, before being reassigned to its current classification in 1942; and Araniella opisthographa, originally described as Araneus cucurbitinus opisthographa by the Polish arachnologist Władysław Kulczyński in 1905, then later recognised as a distinct species. They often share the same habitat, can typically only be distinguished by microscopic examination of their genitalia, and are believed to hybridise on occasion.
I offered my finger. The spider stepped from woven straw to skin. After a moment’s orientation on my knuckle, it began moving upward, tracing the contours of my hand. Clambering on to my sleeve, its colouration became startlingly vivid against the black fleece, its cryptic camouflage compromised. I coaxed it back on to my finger and gently guided it on to a low branch. In the diffuse beech light, the green was perfectly leaf-matched, the spider disappearing seamlessly into the surrounding foliage.
Reform UK has made gains at the expense of Labour and the Conservatives in early council election results overnight.
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Alex Jenkinson, 39, of Stowmarket, Suffolk, has been remanded in custody ahead of a court appearance.
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Former China defence ministers convicted of corruption in latest purge of military leaders | China
Two former Chinese defence ministers were given suspended death sentences for bribery on Thursday, after being convicted by China’s military court, in some of the most severe punishments to be handed down in a years-long purge of the military.
Chinese state media Xinhua announced on Thursday that Li Shangfu and Wei Fenghe were both sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve, meaning that their sentences will probably be commuted to life imprisonment if Li and Wei demonstrate good behaviour.
Xinhua said that no further parole would be allowed, and that the two men were stripped of their political rights for life and all of their personal property. The sentences are expected to serve as a warning to other generals in the armed forces that even seniority and connections can not serve as a protection from purges.
Li was defence minister for seven months in 2023. His predecessor was Wei, who served in that post for five years.
The position of defence minister wield little actual power in China, as military affairs are handled by the Central Military Commission of the Chinese Communist party. But both men previously held roles which gave them access to large budgets and sensitive equipment.
Li was head of the military equipment procurement department between 2017 and 2022. Wei previously headed the Rocket Force of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), responsible for China’s nuclear arsenal.
Chinese state media previously said that Li was guilty of “serious violation of Party discipline and the law”. It said that an investigation found that Li “sought improper benefits in personnel arrangements for himself and others, took advantage of his posts to seek benefits for others, and accepted a huge amount of money and valuables in return.”
The two men were among the first and the most high profile military figures to be targeted in a sweeping crackdown on the armed forces, which has seen more than 100 senior military officers purged or potentially purged since 2022 according to a study by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The tally includes people who have disappeared from public view with no explanation.
Since coming to power in 2012, China’s leader Xi Jinping has made cracking down on corruption a central pillar of his rule. In the past few years, the anti-graft campaign has targeted the People’s Liberation Army, raising questions about the armed forces’ military readiness as the purges deplete the PLA’s high command.
In January, Xi purged Zhang Youxia, the second-highest ranking commander in China’s military after Xi himself.
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