This South American spider wanders through the jungle. He lurks in banana trees and under fallen logs for prey, but also ventures into damp houses, under carelessly thrown clothes, in shoes. From an ambush, the Brazilian stray spider attacks everything edible, ranging from crickets to mice and lizards. Man is also unsure of his life with a Brazilian stray spider nearby. Among the many species, two are highly poisonous (deadly). Their poison contains a neurotoxin that causes paralysis and eventually suffocation. As is known, spiders are not sweeties. However, this stray spider, a predator pur sang, takes the cake. Every now and then this banana spider ends up in Europe as a stowaway and scares the staff and shoppers in supermarkets.
Amazon
Content
- Brazilian stray spider on the rise
- Loopspin of format
- Behavior of the Brazilian stray spider
- Picky
- Very poisonous banana spider
- Symptoms of the bite
- Toxicity
- Does the Brazilian stray spider also hunt in the Netherlands?
- Legislation
Brazilian stray spider on the rise
This spider of the order Araneae is a comb spider and belongs to the genus Phoneutria with eight species. Of these, the Phoneutria fera and the Phoneutria nigriventer some of the most poisonous. The former species is found in Brazil, Guyana and Suriname, among others. The nigriventer can be found from Brazil to Argentina. The six other species are also based in the South American rainforests from the Amazon. They have also been observed in Peru and Bolivia, as far as Panama and Costa Rica.
Brazilian stray spiders ?? including the infamous Phoneutria fera and nigriventer ?? do not engage in webs or burrows. They run through the jungle and come to them prey thus by itself against. The nigriventer grows to about 5-6 centimeters, the male is slightly smaller, reaching a wingspan of up to 15 centimeters. The Phoneutria has a brown color and can usually be recognized by the linearly striped or dotted top side (breast head) and abdomen. The leg joints and the underside of the legs often have a lighter color pattern. The underbelly is usually dark, reddish, and has rows of black dots. The nigriventer has, as the name implies, a black spot on the abdomen.
Behavior of the Brazilian stray spider
The Phoneutria fera and the nigriventer are wanderers, vagrants. In that respect comparable to the European great spur spider. Their mobility makes them very unpredictable. These spiders pop up ‘out of nowhere’. They hunt prey from one ambush or they chase their victims, ranging from all other types of spiders to beetles, cockroaches, crickets, mice, frogs and small reptiles, including lizards.
To jump
The Brazilian stray spider, which usually uses the Phoneutria nigriventer is very fast and can make jumps of up to half a meter. Because this spider can immediately disappear from view, some spider enthusiasts sometimes compare their ‘jump’ with teleportation. As mentioned, the forest soil basically forms their habitat, where they are located under, between and in everything that the jungle has to offer, such as fallen logs, leaves and shrubs.
The Brazilian stray spider lives at the most two or three years old. Immediately after the mating the male is not sure of his life, just as the male of the black widow must do everything in his power not to be eaten by the otherwise choosy female after the deed. The eggs of the Phoneutria (Greek for ‘murderess’) are neatly stored in a spun egg sac. The nigriventer mates in the dry season, from April to July. The spider is more active and is observed more often than usual during that period, also in and around the houses.
Very poisonous banana spider
Let no doubt about one thing: who gets bitten by one Phoneutria better get medical help right away. The fera, nigriventer and keyserlingi ?? either the banana spiders ?? are the most poisonous spider species in the world. As such they are listed in the Guinness Book of Records. The poison of the nigriventer is so powerful that death can occur in a human being after 15 minutes to half an hour. Children in particular are at risk of dying from the bite of this spider, especially in the South American countries where there is little or no medical care in rural areas.
Symptoms of the bite
The venom contains, among other things, the neurotoxin PhTx3, a calcium blocker that also hinders the absorption of glutamate in the neural synapses. Partly because of this, the bite causes all kinds of nasty symptoms, such as:
-
Breathing problems.
- Loss of muscle control.
- Paralysis symptoms.
-
Edema.
-
Inflammation.
- Intense pain.
- Salivation.
- Convulsions.
- Priapism (painful erection).
- Suffocation.
Toxicity
Some Brazilian studies, including one from 2008, state that cases of ‘severe poisoning‘are rare. The Phoneutria after all, it is known that it can also bite ‘dry’ to save poison. However, the venom’s toxicity is more potent than the venom of, for example, the Australian tunnel web spider, also one of the deadliest spiders in the world.
Yes and no. The Phoneutria is a jungle spider that moves climatically certainly does not feel at ease in this little country. There are, however, known cases of Brazilian stray spiders that survived the crossing in containers. This mainly concerns bulk foods, such as bananas. In 2005 a man in Bridgewater, England, was bitten by the Phoneutria fera, after a shipment of bananas arrived. It took him over a week to recover from the bite.
Tilburg and Bolsward
In addition, an incident was reported in a supermarket in Bolsward (the Netherlands) in 2008, involving a Brazilian stray spider hid in a bunch of bananas. In 2009, the Phoneutria boliviensis seen in a container. And in May 2016, a Phoneutria caught in a supermarket in Harpstedt, Lower Saxony, Germany.
Legislation
Sea cargoes increasingly contain exotic insects and spiders. An example of this is the black widow, a spider that is native to North America but has spread worldwide. Formerly container loads first handled with pesticides (gas) and then transported cooled. Due to public health and numerous environmental aspects, legislation has been amended and gas use in food preservation has been restricted or limited. Banana bunches are therefore only visually inspected before they go into the transport refrigeration.
Survival
But the human eye, as so often, falls short. Perhaps for that reason it will increasingly occur that a Phoneutria, like the nigriventer, the fera and other species, the crossing survives and runs amok in Dutch and Belgian supermarkets and transhipment ports.