(I'm sure this will endear me even further to those poor
unfortunates on this list who thought we just discussed
CP)
From what I've read, Black Widows, despite the fact they
are legend here in the US, are not lethal. Unless you
are allergic, or unless the poison gets directly into
the blood stream, which is very unlikely. There is one
way which it does happen, although the occurance isn't
common (as you'll see).
Black Widows apparently (and in my personal experience) haunt
so-called "pit toilets" in public campgrounds. There, they
(allegedly) sometimes spin their webs on the underside of
the seats, presumably waiting for flys. Sometimes however,
males (humans) who use the afore-mentioned facilities suffer
bites on an area of their anatomy which is quite vascular.
A spider bite on a large vein near the surface of the skin
can allegedly result in transport of venom to the heart almost
immediately, resulting in symptoms similar to that of a heart
attack.
Disclaimer: I read this about 10 years ago in a campers hand-
book. While it's probably true, I doubt it's very common. However,
even if it's not lethal, it's not an experience I care to
undergo. I'll be attending a survival medicine courst next
weekend, and I'll try to ask about spider bites.
Personally I don't mind spiders, as long as they stay in their
part of the household. They keep the vermin down. Unfortunately
they also create webs, which are messy. Spiders are not stupid.
A couple of years ago I bug-bombed a storage closet with a smoke
type bug-bomb, and the locals immediately began a mass exodus.
Quite impressive actually. Locally spiders aren't as much fun
as the ant-lions, aka. "pit spiders", which live in thhe planter
outside my apt. On a daily basis I drop some ants into the little
funnel-shaped pits & watch the ant-lions below do what they do
best: pest control. They can hurl an amazing amount of dirt
at the ants trying to escape the pit. I've entertained the idea
of making a plexi-box & collecting a bunch of ant-lions to grow
in the box, but I'm not up on the habitat of the bugs, nor do
I wish to see them escape the box in the confines of my home
or office. I was amused to see that the computer game "Sim-Ant"
does a great job of simulating amt lions as part of the overall
habitat.
Are ant-lions insects, or something else (is arthropod a genus
or family name?) So far I haven't dug up any of the 'lions, but
I'm wondering how big they can get.
R.