The redback spider is one of the most venomous arachnids ever to exist on the planet. No wonder they managed to do something the Allies failed to do in late WWII: Invade Japan.
Posted on 11/25/2009 1:18:36 AM PST by myknowledge
Venomous redback spiders are on the march in Japan, where they are believed to have arrived years ago as stowaways on cargo ships, a wildlife expert has warned.
The creepy-crawlies, named after their fiery markings, have infested the Osaka region and are drawing closer to the capital Tokyo, said Japan Wildlife Research Centre official Toshio Kishimoto.
A dozen people have reportedly been bitten in Osaka prefecture alone, media reports say, including a six-year-old boy who was treated with antivenom in June, the first time the medication had been used in the country.
"Their poison is strong and they are particularly dangerous to people in weak physical condition, like children and the elderly," Kishimoto told AFP.
"Redbacks are becoming a common species in Japan. They are very numerous, especially in the western region, and are now often sighted in residential areas.... Once the spiders spread, it's hard to eliminate them."
Redback bites, which inject a potent neurotoxin, have caused numerous deaths in Australia, although an antivenom stocked in hospitals has prevented fatalities more recently.
Redbacks were first spotted in Japan in 1995, around Osaka, a major port where, experts believe, they may have arrived in a container of Australian woodchips used to make paper in Japan.
Several years ago a major redback infestation was found in the street drainage system of the city, and the arachnids have now spread to prefectures covering roughly a third of the country.
In one case, a man moving from Osaka north to the Tokyo region by car unknowingly took a redback spider with him after the animal had latched onto the vehicle, the wildlife researcher said.
He said Japanese people must become more aware of the dangers of redbacks, a species long feared in Australia, where the creatures are known to lurk in garden sheds, in shoes left outdoors, and under toilet seats.
"People need to be warned on how to treat them, and to be careful when they're out cleaning ditches, and to wear thick cotton gloves for example," said Kishimoto.
The redback spider is one of the most venomous arachnids ever to exist on the planet. No wonder they managed to do something the Allies failed to do in late WWII: Invade Japan.
Red and Black - power colors in Sorcery and Black Magic.
(And don’t think for a minute they don’t know that.)
“He said Japanese people must become more aware of the dangers of redbacks, a species long feared in Australia, where the creatures are known to lurk in garden sheds, in shoes left outdoors, and under toilet seats.”
TOILET SEATS!!!!!!!!!
Well, that does it. No more toilets for me. From this day forward I am going ROGUE and using the neighbor’s flower beds, just like their cats use mine.
This is very bad news. If you are bitten, no one will volunteer to suck the venom out. Worse yet, for men, your “danglers” are now always in peril. ;-)
New Zealand's very own TUNNELWEB Spider.
Oh, they like reading Darwin.
What an ugly bugger. Are they venemous?
When making the third “Lord of the Rings” movie, Peter Jackson wanted to make the monster spider “Shelob” as fearsome as possible, so he modeled it after the Tunnel Web spider.
> What an ugly bugger. Are they venemous?
Not at all, to humans.
The only venomous New Zealand native spider is the Katipo — and one should feel honored and privileged to ever get bitten by a Katipo, they are so rare as to be nearly extinct. Their bite smarts, but doesn’t seriously inconvenience a healthy human being. They are primitive, like most native NZ bugs, relics from the dinosaur age, and are found amongst the grassy tussock that holds sand dunes together on North Island.
We do have a few imported Redbacks from Australia, in isolated pockets. They are very hardy spiders, survivors. And even though they are “greatly feared” in Australia, the plain fact is that their bite hasn’t killed anyone ever since antivenom was developed back in the mid-50’s, and even without the antivenom the bite will bloody hurt but probably not do anything serious to a healthy human.
Now, the Funnelweb spider that our FRiend mkjessup shows us is a whole ‘nuther ball game. It’s found in Sydney, and its bite can be deadly, particularly the males during mating season.
A mate of mine is an amateur bug-ologist (or whatever they’re actually properly called) in Sydney, and he’s been bitten by the Funnelweb quite a few times, as this is the spider that he specializes in. He’s developed some sort of immunity to it, even so it apparently smarts mightily each time he gets bitten. He’s identified a significant number of sub-species of the Funnelweb.
Now all we have to do is connect this with global warming and compile the evidence that this is all somehow George Bush`s fault, then we can conduct a Congressional investigation and create a new Cabinet level Czar to regulate any toilet seats that the spiders may be found on, Oh.and throw a couple trillion dollars at the new problem.
Obama can save us from it if we only Hope.
Thanks for the info. We have fire ants here, courtesy of Argentina circa 1930. They are quite small, nasty little critters that spread like nobody’s business. I read a story some months back in which the ants killed a foal.
We deal with them by scattering about a chemical that renders them sterile. This prevents them from spreading new colonies, and causes the colonies in existence to die off. This process is done about every six months as new colonies arrive from untreated areas.
Here's another famous movie spider, also from New Zealand:
This is the "Avondale Spider". In Australia it is called the "Huntsman Spider". It is perfectly harmless: they give a painful nip but only if you really insist. Nothing worse ensues.
The adult spider's legs grow very, very long -- up to 8" across when stretched out. I've got one on my wall right now, just over my right shoulder. Their long legs make them move really quick, which can be a tad disconcerting until you're used to them. This one's a pet of mine. She(?) keeps the bugs at bay: I live in the jungle so there is plenty of work for him/her to do.
They are found in West Auckland, where I live, mostly around Avondale. This is the second year only that I have seen them in the Waitakere Ranges, where I am. Dunno how they got here, they tend to stay concentrated in one neighborhood and not move out of it.
The movie connexion? Did you ever see that old, early-1990's movie "Arachnophobia?" Those spiders were real, and they were Avondale spiders.
Ha! We have that movie! Thanks for the info! I can see why they used it. The Avondale spider LOOKS mighty fearsome!
I should have read your post #11 first DieHard, the Tunnel Web might not be venomous but they are one scary looking beast!
Now your friend who has been bitten by the funnel web? I cannot imagine the pain (and the sheer shock) of being bitten by such an arachnid, I suppose what would disturb me the most is that I have read they are very aggressive, which leads me to wonder WHY our CIA Special Ops people couldn’t arrange to have a bunch of those rascals shipped into Iran’s nuclear facilities “just for sh*ts and giggles”. ;)
Staging was in process for the invasion, when it became unnecessary.
“The only venomous New Zealand native spider is the Katipo...”
One of the main reasons I frequent FR - you never know when a Kiwi spider expert is going to show up!
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