Brazillian Wandering Spider venom

[Imegnixs_Cinder]

Does anyone know how potent or "deadly" the venom is from a brazilian wandering spider? I have searched the net and some sites say it is deadly and can kill and others say its pretty harmless. Reason I ask is there was a news report in scotland about 2 days ago where some woman got bitten by one that was hiding in a bunch of bananas and she was apperently given 2 hours to live. Yet there was another case where someone was bitten on the hand twice in somerset and only had a little lump on their hand. Is the venom on these spiders really that deadly or is it an urban myth? Has anyone done any actuall studies on this?
Thanks!

 

[David_F]

I found quite a few links using www.scholar.google.com (kinda weeds out the more hobbyist oriented pages). Here's one that was pretty interesting. There are people here who actually know about these spiders though so they'll be able to help more.

 

[Imegnixs_Cinder]

Thanks David I couldn't find anything like that when I looked.

 

[Sheri]

There are five species of Phoneutria;
bahiensis, bolivensis, fera, nigriventer, and reidyi.

Only nigriventer is really looked at with serious life threatening potential... though I think there is a second that is also being considered in the genus, but I can't recall which it is right now.

 

[Crotalus]

There are five species of Phoneutria;
bahiensis, bolivensis, fera, nigriventer, and reidyi.

Only nigriventer is really looked at with serious life threatening potential... though I think there is a second that is also being considered in the genus, but I can't recall which it is right now.

Fera and nigriventer are the two which have caused fatalities.
Search for "Phoneutria" here on AB and alot will turn up or go here for a P. nigriventer article that includes the venom:

http://www.minaxtarantulas.net/artiklar/phoneutria/phoneutria_e.html

Edit: i do believe the other ones might possess a venom potent enought to cause fatality but so far nigriventer and fera (esp. nigriventer) are the species which most venom research is done, because this spider inhabits heavy populated areas in Brazil.

/Lelle

 

[Sheri]

I've read that, of course.

No, I forgot the other one considered potentially fatal was fera.

 

[Imegnixs_Cinder]

Sadly I don't know exactly which species it was that bit this person, it was my friend who saw the article. I don't have the article it was in, but my friend in scotland is hopefully getting me a copy tonight. I do know the artical said its "poisonous" which pretty much says it all for their knowledge so Im not holding out much hope that the article will be able to clarify which species exactly it was. If it does give anymore info I will post it here. I always thought it was urban myth about these bites, but reading these articles Im thinking again!

 

[Stefan2209]

Wandering spiders

There might be another explanation for the kinda different symptomatic: spiders of the family Ctenidae are also called "Wandering spiders", "Banana spiders" and sometimes just plain "Hunting spiders". This names are applied to some quite different genera, if it comes to venom-potency. While the afforementioned Phoneutria spec. have a quite potent venom, the closely related Cupiennius spec. are completely harmless to man. These two genera get mixed up on a regurlarly basis, so if he got tagged by a Cupiennius spec. twice it would be clear why he´s got some kind of "Bee-sting"-sensation.

To the remark these stories would be urban-legends, this happens more often than one might think. I just recently found a post in a german T-forum where one guy asked for an id of a spider he had found in a bunch of bananas he had bought. The bananas had come from colombia, he had added some pics which showed clearly a Phoneutria spec. Given the location and the coloration of the spider i´d have guessed on P. boliviensis.

 

[Huk7]

I've seen a snippit of the story as well and I am doubting the id of the actual spider.

I think that she got bit and saw a brown spider (that should narrow it down a bit!!), however, the spider escaped into her house apparently. So I am assuming they found out the origin of the fruit and deduced the species from there.

That would be fine if there were only 1 species in brazil!!! Also it could just have easily been a common british house spider (Tegenaria domestica).

 

[Stefan2209]

Does anyone of you have a link to the news, sounds interesting...?

If i remember it correct, this is the third accident involving some kind of "exotic" spider reported from UK this year. I wonder why there are accidents so often reported while there aren´t any bite-accidents (at least reported) from other countries?

 

[Totenkopf]

I work for a grocery store chain here in Phx, AZ. This last weekend, we found a very different type of spider in a box of bananas. (no one was bit). I'd like some help identifying this critter. Can someone help me? I joined this BB for this very purpose, because I also read the web articles on the Brazilian Wandering spider. I've never participated on a BB, so I don't even know if I'm doing this right. I do have some digital pictures, but don't know how to do an attachment.

 

[Sheri]

Ok, if they are sized small post again and you will see a "manage attachments" button. Hit that and you will be given 5 space to upload the pics to the post.

If you can't work that you can email them to me and I will post them on your behalf.