I start this blog for several reasons.
Primarily, most ill-informed British citizens rest easy in their beds with the 'knowledge' that we have no indigenous spiders with a bite.
Ah-ah INCORRECT!
There are 35,000 species of spider (arachnia) genus global-wide. About 50 of these are deemed dangerous. Australia's redback (a member of the widow family (steatoda) is considered the most potentially fatal, yet has killed few residents of Australia and New Zealand (down to anti-venom and anti-histamines) in the last 40 years.
This species has a close cousin (Steotoda nobilis) - the false widow, which, 'how's about this then - is a spider found in the UK - but more about that little swine later!
The spiders we generally come into contact with as humans in the UK are either small or incredibly big.
And there lies the problem - some people just squish them all. A scuttle, a quick move... splat!
And laughable as it seems, it's the smaller ones that are likely to bite. And that's if they actually DO bite.
The common (British) house spider (Tegenaria Gigantia)
Troops took photos of plate-sized spiders sprinting across sand. These creatures ran at 15-20 miles per hour, but were never true spiders. A member of the solifugae genus (scorpions - and possibly give-or-take a hundred thousand years - a bit like lobsters!) they were wind scorpions or sand spiders. And they are still exploited to this day by troops with 'look at this spider mom' postcards home.
They just aren't spiders. Merely solifugae - scorpions with no sting (and look hard enough in the UK -we have pseudo scorpions in most gardens. Technically the same animal, but smaller).
Back to the spiders we do have. And here we take it kind-of seriously. But not THAT seriously.
Britain's perception about spiders has been a bit ropey for years now.
We DO have spiders that bite, but we don't have any that are deadly, but we do have spiders that are related to the deadly ones.
Most of the British 'biggies' and 'bities' are immigrant animals. We can thank our wonderful sea-faring past for all that.
The Tegenaria species (the big ones that scuttle out in UK households in autumn - the giant housespider) are an import from the Canary Islands - fruit!)
Cave spiders (often wrongly named as daddy-long-legs) are another squatter! They have thin legs, and a bulbous elongated body. They will lay in a culvert or cubby-hole. And have a remarkable knack of vibrating their web when threatened.
These spiders are more likely to simply die through sheer panic or 'nip' if trapped. They are one of the unfortunate arachnia in the UK that is eaten by its mate (if male) after sex.
Cave spider bites HAVE been reported at UK A&E departments, but the Natural History Museum lists them as harmless. Their fangs are simply too small to ever seriously penetrate human skin.
The giant housespider (Tegenaria Gigantea) is one to observe. Perhaps the only notable domestic threat (if a spider can ever be a threat in the UK - they eat about every bug you would want out of your house in winter).
A sub-genus of the tegenaria has bred in the US. It is known as Tegenaria Domestica. Essentially the same spider, its venom has [subject to scientific clarification] become toxic to humans. This could also be down to a new species being alien to the human body on a particular continent. Technically, Teginaria could have been biting eastern Europeans and Africans for centuries with few ill effects on the bite recipient, yet the spider provokes allergic reactions in the US.
Other notable British spiders (bite-wise) are the fen-raft spider. A spider reported as sometimes as large as a saucer, but rare. Relatively common to the Norfolk Broads, it is a protected species. It (understandably) rarely ever comes into contact with humans. It can penetrate human skin and has a bite akin to a wasp sting. It feeds on large insects, small frogs, small fish, and occasionally small rodents.
One spider to actually be careful of in the UK is the mouse spider [ www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/gallery/files/4/0/9/0/housespider.jpg ], which has become increasingly common as winters become warmer. A genus (again introduced on ships) which has been around in Britain since the late 1800s.
20 years ago, this spider was a rare visitor to outbuildings, but can be seen most often at night in the North East of England regularly now as it searches for a mate or food. The male has a shiny thorax and a furry, sleek abdomen. The female has a more bulbous abdomen, with a mouse-like coat (hence the name). It has strong-looking legs and can bite.
I have personal experience of this spider. I stupidly stuck a key in front of a female recently and it actually reared up - like a little Ozzie funnelweb!
I could see her fangs. I don't care how small the little babe was, if I can actually see fangs on a spider and I'm in Britain, it's back away time!
Another sod that can bite in the UK is the woodlouse spider. Red or dead? Every woodlouse faced with a woodlouse spider must ask that.
The woodlouse spider is technically the most dodgy spider in Britain, yet one of the most common. It has fangs that can pierce a woodlouse's shell. Thus, it can pierce human skin easily. For this reason, The Natural History Museum advises that British gardeners wear gloves, yet the woodlouse spider is little studied by scientists. It has venom regarded as 'notable' by the british spider study.
Steatoda Nobilis is a cousin of the Black Widow and Australian red-back. (It actually looks like it). That too lives in British gardens and can bite, thankfully with few serious situations - it's reported as being like a really nasty bee sting!
Yes, the UK has fluked it when it comes to dangerous animals. The adder was our only indigenous poisonous biter.
But I just hope that this blog has opened a few eyes! Some British spiders DO bite. Some ARE poisonous. They won't kill us, but we generally panic when we see a wasp or a bee.
The vibe for a good 20 years has been that British spiders are harmless, which technically, they are, but I wouldn't hold a big one in my hand if I was you!
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