The Brazilian Wandering spider is a member of the Ctenidae family of wandering spiders.
The Brazilian Wandering spider appeared in the Guinness Book of World Records 2007 for being the most venomous animal.
In this particular genus, there are
five known similar species whose members are also highly venomous. They
include some of the relatively few species of spiders that present a
threat to human beings.
Brazilian Wandering Spider Characteristics
The Brazilian wandering spider can grow to have a leg
span of up to 4 – 5 inches. They are large hairy spindly-looking
spiders who have eight eyes, two of which are large. Brazilian wandering
spiders are fast-moving spiders, their legs are strong and spiny and
they have distinctive red jaws which they display when angered.
The Brazilian wandering spider is not a Tarantula.
Brazilian wandering spiders are not even in the same family group.
Tarantulas are harmless to humans and are mostly ambush killers who wait
for prey to come to them. Brazilian wandering spiders are active
hunters. Brazilian wandering spiders and Tarantulas do have one thing in
common, however, they do not eat bananas.
Brazilian Wandering Spider Habitat and Spider Webs
The Brazilian Wandering spider is
so-called because it wanders the jungle floor, rather than residing in a
lair or maintaining a web. This is another reason it is considered so
dangerous. In densely populated areas, the Brazilian Wandering spider
will usually search for cover and dark places to hide during daytime,
leading it to hide within houses, clothes, cars, boots, boxes and log
piles. This usually causes accidents when people disturb them.
The Brazilian Wandering spider is also
called the ‘banana spider’ as it is occasionally found within shipments
of bananas. As a result, any large spider appearing in a bunch of
bananas should be treated with due care.
Brazilian Wandering Spider Diet
Adult Brazilian Wandering spiders eat
crickets, other large insects, small lizards and mice. Spiderlings of
this species eat flightless fruit flies and pinhead crickets.
Brazilian Wandering Spider Reproduction
All spiders produce silk, a thin,
strong protein strand extruded by the spider from spinnerets most
commonly found on the end of the abdomen. Many species use it to trap
insects in webs, although there are many species that hunt freely such
as the Brazilian Wandering spider. Silk can be used to aid in climbing,
form smooth walls for burrows, build egg sacs, wrap prey and temporarily
hold sperm, among other applications.
Brazilian Wandering spiders reproduce by means of
eggs, which are packed into silk bundles called egg sacs. The male
spider must (in most cases) make a timely departure after mating to
escape before the females normal predatory instincts return.
Mature male spiders have swollen bulbs
on the end of their palps for this purpose and this is a useful way to
identify whether the spider is male or female. Once the sperm is inside
the female spider, she stores it in a chamber and only uses it during
the egg-laying process, when the eggs come into contact with the male
sperm for the first time and are fertilized. The Brazilian Wandering
spiders life cycle is 1 – 2 years.
Brazilian Wandering Spider Venom
Bites from the Brazilian Wandering
spider may result in only a couple of painful pinpricks to full-blown
envenomed. In either case, people bitten by this spider or any Ctenid
should seek immediate emergency treatment as the venom is possibly life
threatening.
The Phoneutria fera and Phoneutria
nigriventer (two species of wandering spider) are the two most commonly
implicated as the most vicious and deadly of the Phoneutria spiders. The
Phoneutria not only has a potent neurotoxin, but is reported to have
one of the most excruciatingly painful envenoms of all spiders due to
its high concentration of serotonin. They have the most active venom of
any living spiders. One of their members, the Brazilian Huntsman, is
thought to be the most venomous spider in the world. Brazilian wandering
spiders are certainly dangerous and bite more people than any other
spiders.
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