Eresus venom

[Deroplatys]

Are they really dangerous?
Just found a site that says they can induce severe swelling and fever, and have also been known to be fatal, is this true?

 

[jsloan]

Are they really dangerous?
Just found a site that says they can induce severe swelling and fever, and have also been known to be fatal, is this true?

What's the URL for the site?

 

[Deroplatys]

Found it

http://www.praguepost.com/news/287-scientist-details-venomous-find.html

As is the case with other species, the Moravian ladybird spiders are indeed venomous, and a bite will likely induce a fever and swelling, accompanied by a severe headache for several hours. Though the bites of other types of ladybird spiders have been fatal,

 

[jsloan]

Thanks. I found the abstract for the original paper where Řezáč describes the new species (along with some others). Looks like the paper itself is not a free download, though:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1463-6409.2008.00328.x/full

 

[Deroplatys]

So are they in fact dangerous then?

 

[formi]

Hi,
Even they are reported as harmless in most of the litarature, but now it seems that their venom is quite potent. Because of their hidden lifestyle there aren´t many bite reports. I talk to Milan Řezáč about his bite experiences. Most surprising is that it don´t cause any local pain but complex symptoms like fever and tiredness for several hours. Sure that symptoms will depend on various factors like age, condition and sensitivity of bitten person or size of spider. There is one report of dead child bitten by adult female of E. walckenaeri in Turkey. Note that E. walckenaeri is one of the biggest Eresidae.