Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2009 11:35 am Post subject: Black Widow Bites, Two For One Sale!
Black Widow Bites, Two For One Sale!
WARNING: Free handling Latrodectus species spiders is probably a really bad idea. Common species possess venom that is more damaging than that of common USA rattle snakes, milliliter for milliliter. An envenomation is not likely to kill a healthy adult, but small people or people with pre-existing medical conditions could find themselves in BAD trouble. It is a good idea for anyone bitten by Latrodectus to seek medical attention.
Spoiler located at end of this text.
Latrodectus is a genus of spider found all over the world. In the USA its representative species are commonly known as widows... there are three species of mainly black widows (L. hesperus, western black widow; L. mactans, southern black widow; L. variolus, northern black widow), one species of red widow found only in Florida (L. bishopi), and one somewhat recently introduced species of brown widow, L. geometricus. In africa they are known as button spiders and in australia they are known as redback spiders. Most species tend to be featureless black, though there are sometimes dramatic exceptions. L. bishopi has a red body with a wildly colored abdomen done in browns, whites, and yellows in spots and lines. L. pallidus, the white widow, is a cream colored spider found in the middle east. There is a species of Latrodectus from Laos affectionately known as the Hellfire Widow because of the flame decal-esque red coloration on the beautiful black body.
The spider featured in this video is either L. hesperus or L. geometricus... i am leaning toward geo at this point. At that size my experience has been that hesperus has much less wild coloration and more regularily colored legs. L. hesperus has a pretty wide range of coloration, especially when they are immature, so it is hard to known for sure what species i was dealing with based only on gross macroscopic observation of the spider. One easy way to tell the brown species from the three black species is by their eggsacs. The three black USA species all make essentially smooth, tear drop shaped eggsacs. L. geometricus makes globular to tear drop shaped eggsacs... but they are covered with dozens of spikes or extrusions. Geo's do not achieve the size of hesperus, and probably never reach over 2"/5cm diagonal leg span... and are much more regularily in the 1"/2.5cm to 1.5"/3.8cm DLS. It is disappointing to see the geometricus species spreading across the world. They are consummate survivors and are likely out competing native species that live in the same niche as them. Latrodectus genus is a member of the Theridiidae family... also known as comb-foot spiders. These comb-feet are special hairs/spines on their back legs that allow them to throw their webbing onto their prey for subduction and their predators for defensive purposes. The only silver lining to the cloud of geo's descendnig on the world is that they are likely not as human reactively venomous as many of their cousin species. Brown widows are not as strongly reactive as any of the three USA black species, but are still a serious animal to be envenomated by. In the case of envenomation professional medical assistance is probably in order.
[Uploaded from a 100/40/12MB WMV file]
SPOILER: I did get bit at least once, likely twice. Neither bite seems to have resulted in an envenomation. Generally speaking, widows are not inclined to "wet" bite, that is to inject venom, for a low priority defensive bite. Latrodectus venoms are insanely complex, giant molecules that are quite expensive for the spiders to manufacture. If the spider is not in immediate risk of death it is much more likely for them to dry bite... BUT this is not a sure thing by any stretch of the imagination!
I apologize about the audio desync. I only use free programs to edit and produce my videos and they don't seem to work great all the time :/
Latrodectus hesperus geometricus black brown widow spider bite venom envenomation Latrodectism Araneaism Arachnidism
There may be people who like centipedes. I have seen people handling tarantulas and scorpions, but never a centipede handler. I would regard such a person with deep suspicion...Now what sort of man or woman or monster would stroke a centipede on its underbelly "And here is my big good centipede." If such a man exists, I say kill him without more ado. He is a traitor to the human race.
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