Can you direct us to a white paper on that? Feels a lot like a typical invasive finding niches in ecosystems, but extremely hyper.
True cosmopolitan opportunists. Give globalization, human stupidity, and a few more decades I suspect the African bee will show very similar omnipresence.
If it's like @Smokehound714 says all over I suspect it will be like the Himalayan blackberry invasion in the pacific northwest. Essentially, obvious plans to take over the planet. However, environmental limiting factors came into play. So Geos prefer human habitation and are displacing Hesperus. But Hesperus has a huge range and widely differing environments. From the cold and constantly damp pacific northwest to the alkali flats on borders of death valley and south past the Salton Seat into Mexico. Opportunity invasives rarely are able to tolerate all the niches that the local animal populations have adapted to.
Are you sure abour Hesperus and mactans being in Asia? I know of geometricus and hasselti being invasive, but not those two. I would be interested in reading more about this if so.
A friend brought a foreigner associate to my house two weeks ago and asked if I could ID a spider. Across the river from me about 3-4 hundred meters off. Several holes under a shipping container with that tell tale web. They had their workers dig out the area and unearthed a typical Hesperus. Asking where the container came from: Sat in San Pedro for a couple of months before coming here.
Interesting. Loxosceles recluse doesn’t kill healthy adults usually. That package with Hesperus came from very close to where I live, cool. I suppose it’s possible for them to lay eggs and for them to hatch. I imagine that the populations would be very enclosed at first though. What a time we live in..
Take into account how stoic the average farmer is, the fact he knew he got bit by a spider and they are harmless, and most farmers don't go to medical centers but instead to clinics where nurses or techs handle the work load and a doc breezes through now and then. I've been by our neighborhood clinic a couple dozen times and have yet to see a doc. And then to top it off, most of the hospitals here are government operated where Docs get around $3 to $5 per patient seen and let's just say the overall medical quality and capability are lacking. Thai's are also usually one trick ponys. Thinking outside their little boxes is virtually unheard of. So spider bite? Take paracetomol and check back in a few days if it doesn't get better.
Right on! Thx @The Snark
There's hope for Variolus yet!Right on! Thx @The Snark
I put quite a bit of work into finding those values, but I'm not sure I saved the sources or could recall exactly where I found all of them. I remember reading differing reports of values as well, so I went with the more trusted/recent studies for those values. Some species were not studied very thoroughly either.
You’re looking at the wrong side if you want to see an hourglass. Contrary to popular belief, (Likely due to people’s tattoos and art) the hourglass is on the ventral side. As for the dorsal pattern it is perfectly normal for the species, Latrodectus mactans. I think this one is a molt or two from maturity so the red may disappear a bit.
I’d guess it’s Latrodectus mactans, although L. variolus can also be found in your state.
With the invasive brown widows having taken over our state, it's nice to see a native black widow.
Worse than kidney stones! General consensus is that passing kidney stones is pretty high up on the pain index, so the bite must have been something.
