Poisonous Hemolymph

[Kodi]

So I was reading some Tarantula Keepers Guide and came across something I thought was pretty interesting."The hemolymph of spiders is quite toxic when injected into laboratory mice (Savory 1964). It appears that no one has yet tried to determine the identity of the toxin or how it works." I surprisingly tracked down the reference mentioned, but didn't find anything further. Here's a link if you're interested. http://www.museunacional.ufrj.br/mndi/Aracnologia/pdfliteratura/Savory/Savory 1964 The Arachnida.pdf
It is mentioned mid page 31.

I wonder what purpose that would serve speaking evolutionarily? It doesn't say anything about ingestion so even if a tarantula survived a bite it probably wouldn't effect the mammal. Maybe its a byproduct of their venom?

It's interesting nevertheless.

 

[Poec54]

Many different kinds of animals eat tarantulas, both vertebrate & invertebrate, so it's not an effective defense.

 

[Ceymann]

So I was reading some Tarantula Keepers Guide and came across something I thought was pretty interesting."The hemolymph of spiders is quite toxic when injected into laboratory mice (Savory 1964). It appears that no one has yet tried to determine the identity of the toxin or how it works." I surprisingly tracked down the reference mentioned, but didn't find anything further. Here's a link if you're interested. http://www.museunacional.ufrj.br/mndi/Aracnologia/pdfliteratura/Savory/Savory 1964 The Arachnida.pdf
It is mentioned mid page 31.

I wonder what purpose that would serve speaking evolutionarily? It doesn't say anything about ingestion so even if a tarantula survived a bite it probably wouldn't effect the mammal. Maybe its a byproduct of their venom?

It's interesting nevertheless.

Venoms, when ingested are inert and not harmful, I believe the digestive processes destroys them before they are ever able to make it to the bloodstream. Poisons, however, are a different story.