Spider… A lot of people gets terrified just to hear the word spider. In fact, they are not the most cuddly looking creatures and some of them can really kill people!
They are everywhere, and you may not know it but, there is always a spider within a few feet of you at any one time! There are so many different spider species, approximately 40,000 world wide, that it’s hard to figure out which ones you need to worry about and which ones are harmless.
Some species of spiders have venom which is very poisonous. It can actually kill you once you are bitten by them. If that happens you’ll probably feel an extreme pain for more than 24 hours. The venom of the spiders will actually attack either your nervous system (neurotoxic) or tissues surrounding the bite (necrotic) and in come cases attack the vital organs of the body.
Which spiders should we know so that we can avoid them once we see them?
Let’s meet the top 10 most venomous spiders that you really need to know!
10. Yellow Sac Spider (Cheiracanthium)
The Yellow Sac spider enjoys living inside homes and outdoors under logs or thick leaves, and is found in America and Europe. Yellow sac spider retreats may be found outdoors under objects or indoors in the corners of walls and ceilings. The retreats are silken tubes or sacs in which the spiders hide during the daytime.
The Yellow Sac Spider’s venom can leave human victims with lesions and dead skin tissues. Their prey includes other spiders and insects. They also sometimes eat their own eggs.
9. Fringed Ornamental Tarantula (Poecilotheria ornata)
Also known as Indian Ornamental Tree Spiders or Indian Ornamental Spider, it is a large arboreal tarantula found in Western and Eastern Ghats, India.
They have a powerful toxin that puts human victims into comas. If an adult is bitten by an Ornamental Spider, they will experience excruciating pain and muscle cramping.
8. Chinese Bird Spider (Haplopelma schmidti)
The Chinese Bird Spider is a tarantula with a leg span as large as 8 in (20 cm) and is found in the rain forests of China and Vietnam.
Its venom contains neurotoxins and other compounds that are neurotransmitter blockers. Adults and children have experienced severe nerve damage that rendered them unable to move after being bitten and sometimes the venom can cause death when left untreated. It only takes 0.7 mg/kg to cause death in 50% of test cases using lab mice.
7. Mouse Spider (Missulena)
The Mouse spider is found in Australia and received its name from its small mice-like features, it moves quickly and is stout, brown and furry. The female is all black, while the red-headed male has red jaws.
Mouse Spiders are poisonous and live in silk-lined burrows with trap doors. The symptoms from a bite are similar to those from the Sydney Funnel-Web spider. It has a potencial to kill a human being, although it seems that a fast emergency treatment prevents death.
6. Brown and Chilean Recluse Spiders (Loxosceles laeta)
The Brown and Chilean Recluse Spiders are extremely venomous, even with its small fangs. They are native to South America and can now be found worldwide, including in North and Central America, Finland, and Australia.
Their venom bite in humans causes necrosis, kidney failure, and a large expanding wound, which can become gangrenous.
5. Redback spider (Latrodectus hasseltii)
The Redback spider is part of the same family species as the Black Widow, and also very toxic. It is indigenous to Australia and has a prominent red stripe down their back as well as a hourglass figure on their abdomen.
Their venom is more toxic to some people, than others. The symptoms include localized skin infection, swollen lymph nodes, headache, fever, nausea and tremors. More significant, symptoms also include seizures, coma and respiratory failure.
https://youtu.be/kOYm2fHPzV4
4. Black Widow Spider (Latrodectus hesperus)
The Black Widows are notorious spiders identified by the colored, hourglass-shaped mark on their abdomens. The female lives up to its name because of its natural habit of eating its mate after sex. They are found in temperate regions around the world.
The venomous bite of these spider is considered dangerous because of the neurotoxin latrotoxin, and causes a condition called lactrodectism, which causes several muscle spasms and sometimes temporally spinal or cerebrum paralysis, but rarely death.
3. Sydney Funnel-Web Spider (Atrax robustus)
The Sydney Funnel-Web are among the most venomous on Earth and always deliver a full dose of venom instead of dry bites, and is found in Australia.
The Funnel-Web spider of Sydney and nearby areas has a venom called atracotoxin, which can kill a small child in just 15 minutes, whereas in adults the venom causes severe pain at the injection site, muscle spasms, fatigue, nausea and vomiting.
The Sydney Funnel-Web spider is extremely aggressive and it will not only strike once, but several times before it moves away.
2. Six-Eyed Sand Spider (Sicarius hahni)
The Six-Eyed Sand spider is a medium-sized spider with body measuring 8 to 15 mm (1 to 2 in) and legs spanning up to 50 mm (4 in). It is found in deserts and other sandy places in southern Africa. Due to its flattened stance and laterigrade legs, it is also sometimes known as the six-eyed crab spider.
This spider is not aggressive until disturbed. Its venom is purported to be more powerful than its cousins the Recluse species. Its bite causes horrific symptoms — mainly intravascular coagulation, resulting in blood clots throughout the body, as well as bleeding from the skin orifices, eventually leading to death.
https://youtu.be/6vNXrSyW-tc
1. Brazilian Wandering Spider (Phoneutria)
The Brazilian Wandering spider holds the Guinness Book of World Records title as the world’s most venomous spider, since 2010. It can be found in Brazil and outlying South American regions.
The Brazilian Wandering Spider is a large brown spider similar to North American Wolf Spiders, but bigger and possessing a more toxic venom. It has the most neurologically active venom of all spiders, which causes difficulty in breathing or asphyxiation and, within a few moments, death. Another effect of its venom is “priapism” in men — a prolonged erection which can last for hours and days before leading to impotence.
The spider only needs to inject 6 µg of its venom to kill a 20 g mouse, and a full venom load is about 1,069 mg. They are not friendly and will stand on its rear legs and fight if approached, so watch out!
https://youtu.be/pQYWBmk_V2g
Was this Creepy? I’m sure the next time you see a spider, some of this images will come into your head!
And don’t forget to check your shoes before you put them on!