A false Widow Spider was found in a Formby home on Tuesday 24th January. The spider didn’t look like anything the family had seen before. The brother and sister who found it said: “We were cleaning out the games room and moved the settee when we noticed It. It was actually swinging from a strand of its web! We did not recognise it as a normal house spider so we googled it!”
They went on to say: “We were shocked to see the resemblance of a Black Widow Spider, which is the second most deadly spider in the world! We needed help! We got a glass and piece of paper and caught it. We left a dictionary on top of the glass, just in case it tried to escape! At one point, trying to take photos, we knocked the glass and it fell over, we all ran! Luckily, the spider stayed still.”
The family called the ‘Bugs Department’ of the Liverpool Museum and asked their opinion as to exactly what type of spider it was. They emailed a photo over and within the hour, the museum had emailed back to say that it did resemble the deadly Black Widow spider and could they bring it in for further investigation.
The next day, the family took it along (Very securely inside a jam jar with holes in it) to the museum to have a look.
A spokesman for the museum said: “It is definitely what is known as a ‘False Widow’ spider, real name being Steatoda Grossa. The Spider is also pregnant and about to have hundreds of babies!”
He went on to say: “The babies are the size of a full stop and they have hundreds at a time. They can bite but are not as scary as previously seen in news stories and in fact are becoming more and more common in the north west.”
He then offered to keep it in the museum where it would have a good home and any school children would be able to have a look at it and possibly even hold it. The family agreed it would have a much better life at the museum with all it’s babies!
This is another photo of the spider caught in the Formby home but from a different angle, in this photo, it looks more black than in the top photo.
Here are a few facts about the false Black Widow Spider:
- The False Widow spider is the ‘most dangerous spider in Britain’. What this means in reality is, it has a bite about as serious as a wasp sting.
- The false widow bite may result in a mild systemic condition known as steatodism. Symptoms include general malaise, muscle pain, cramps and in rare cases palpitations.
- False widows get their name because they look similar to the potentially lethal black widow spiders. They are actually related.
- The false widow spider is not deadly. The venom of the black widow spider is over 1,000 times more powerful than that of the false widow.
A little information about how to identify a False Black Widow Spider:
- The false widow is a medium sized spider, approximately the size of a 50 pence piece. The body ranges from around 7mm to 15mm in length and the leg span reaches up to 35mm.
- The body and legs have a glossy appearance.
- The thorax and legs are a dark / orangey brown colour, unlike the pitch black of the true widow spiders.
- The abdomen is fairly bulbous with cream patterning on top. It is said that these markings resemble a skull in S. nobilis.
The spider can also be identified by its behaviour and environment:
- False widows are largely nocturnal, spending the day hidden away in a deep crack or hole adjoining its web.
- False Widows like dry, relatively warm environments where they are not likely to be disturbed. This inevitably brings them indoors and they are most often seen in sheds or outbuildings. Interestingly, these spiders seem to have a preference for south facing walls.
- The web is an irregular tangle of fine, sticky silk fibres of high strength. The spider will spend its evenings upside down in this web.
Report courtesy of Formby Bubble
Submit News Contact us with your community, business or sport news. Phone 07581350321
Email ots@otsnews.co.uk
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Otsnews-Southport-1575528676012039/
Twitter www.twitter.com/onthespot_news
Breaking local news as it happens, searchable archives with photographs, the ability to instantly comment on news articles – there are so many advantages to OTS (Onthespot) News.
If you want your news read locally online then send it to ots@otsnews.co.uk – relying only on the newspaper is to restrict yourself to an ever reducing audience.
OTS News on Social Media