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UK's most dangerous spider spied in Thamesmead (From News Shopper)
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UK's most dangerous spider spied in Thamesmead
12:13pm Wednesday 22nd August 2012 in Weird By Sarah Trotter
The false widow spider found in a Thamesmead garage
A FATHER who found the UK’s most venomous spider in his Thamesmead garage was too scared to park his car for fear of the bug’s bite.
Dave Crouchman found the false widow spider - named because of its resemblance to the deadly black widow - swinging above his head at his home off Bryon Close last week.
The Steatoda noblis is also known as the biting spider and unleashes venom if provoked which can cause death for those allergic.
See more pictures of scary spiders spotted in the News Shopper area
Mr Crouchman says he spied the leggy minibeast - measuring around two inches when unfurled - at night but was too frightened to tackle it in the dark.
The 33-year-old said: "I wasn’t parking my car in the garage because he was so scary.
"In the morning, he was sitting there, bold as brass, waiting to be caught.
"I looked at him closely. He looked quite mean. I just knocked him from the top to the floor.
"He started to run away and he ran straight into the pot."
The science technician, who used to be petrified of spiders, braved capturing the creature in a pot. He says he worried about having his five-year-old son, Kai, around it too.
He said: "I am scared of spiders in general, until I held a tarantula at a wildlife park - I still don’t like them but am more tolerant now.
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"It is a bit worrying [having children around]. They all go in the garage to get in the car.
"I told Kai to steer clear of that one. They are nasty spiders."
Expert opinion Lewis Curran, a contributor to the National History Museum’s online Nature Plus Bug Forum, says the false widow spider is becoming more prolific in UK.
He added that the arachnid's bite could cause fatalities but the likelihood of someone being allergic is similar to those reacting very strongly to a wasp or bee sting.
Identifying Mr Crouchman’s find, he said: "This is a rather well marked Steatoda noblis (the heraldic looking shield on the abdomen is a giveaway) and it is the spider that all the rather scary stories are about.
"Although able to give a bite that is certainly painful they, like almost all spiders, are not aggressive (unless you are a fly) and are only known for biting when handled very roughly or squashed under layers of clothing/sheets etc."
Symptoms of a bite People who have been bitten by the false widow have been admitted to hospital with symptoms including pain, chest pains, nausea and vomiting.
Comments(3)
daveykai2007
says...
7:00pm Wed 22 Aug 12
Witchkid
says...
6:28am Mon 27 Aug 12
Mr_Threepwood wrote:There are actually about 14 species of spider in the UK which will bite if threatened, the fangs of most of which can pierce human skin. The Mouse spider is quite small and generally harmless but one of these delivered a bite to the inside of my dog's foot when she stood on it! As with most spiders, they will defend themselves if threatened, much the same as a wasp of bee would.
When I read this article I thought "this spider is quite common".
This afternoon I was tidying up the basement and lo and behold, a false black widow had a web on the back of a piece of plywood. By the looks of it there was a much smaller spider of the same species, possibly a male?
Most of the false widows, I've seen around my house have had vivid red markings, just as a real widow spider does. No need to be scared though, these spiders' fangs can't pierce the skin... go on have a try next time you see one.
In the NS gallery there is a pic of a 'gigantic' spider in a spider catcher. Bearing in mind that the spider catcher is about three inches by four inches, and the spider occupies less than half of it, it's hardly 'gigantic', is it? Tegenaria Gigantea, or the Giant House Spider, grows up to four inches, is common in most homes and has been for hundreds of years. It usually comes out to hunt at night, and doesn't kill people!
As usual, NS and the rest of the media sensationalising! Maybe they should go and find some real news.
Mr_Threepwood says...
5:28pm Wed 22 Aug 12
This afternoon I was tidying up the basement and lo and behold, a false black widow had a web on the back of a piece of plywood. By the looks of it there was a much smaller spider of the same species, possibly a male?
Most of the false widows, I've seen around my house have had vivid red markings, just as a real widow spider does. No need to be scared though, these spiders' fangs can't pierce the skin... go on have a try next time you see one.