Brown Widow Spiders Replacing Black Widow Spiders

• BobYoMeowMeow wrote on 2012-07-06 10:02

  The brown widow spider, a less-poisonous species than its cousin the black widow, is making its claim in the dark recesses of Southern California trash can lids, plant pot lips and wood piles - and pushing its deadly relative out of the region.
  
  The new spider was first spotted in Torrance (Los Angeles County) in 2003, though it's been recorded in the U.S. South since the 1930s. Researchers think the species originated in South Africa.
  
  A new study by researchers at UC Riverside, Fullerton College and Humboldt State University found 20 times more brown widows in the Los Angeles Basin than black widows during a recent census. The research appears in this week's Journal of Medical Entomology.
  
  "The brown widows really burst onto the scene in a very short time, and we found brown widows in many habitats where we expected to find black widows," said Richard Vetter, an entomologist at UC Riverside and author of the study. "There may be some competition where brown widows are displacing black widows, because there is some habitat overlap."
  
  Vetter said the new species is likely to reduce the number and frequency of black widow spider bites in the region and reduce the overall venom levels in the area.
  
  Few brown widow spiders have been found in the northern part of the state. Vetter said that as far as he knows, none have been identified in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has, however, received three positive samples from the Sacramento area and one from Redding.
  
  There are roughly 2,500 reported black widow bites every year in the United States. Bites generally cause severe pain and muscle cramping.
  
  In this most recent analysis, researchers combed Southern California looking for spiders in typical black widow areas and found a predominance of brown widows. The researchers found that around homes in urban areas, brown widows were extremely common, but in agricultural settings, such as nurseries and orchards, black widows still seemed to predominate.
  
  Vetter said the less-toxic bite of a brown widow is a good thing. But he says the black widow is native to the area and has evolved over tens of thousands of years with the other animals and plants in the region. Brown widows "don't belong here," he said.
  
  Vetter said he kills the brown widow, the eggs and specimens he finds, while releasing black widows back into the wild.
  
  He said that after working with black widows for 30 years, handling them without gloves, he's felt their fangs only six times and has never been bitten deeply or long enough to experience a reaction.

  
  
  http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/Brown-spiders-pushing-out-black-widows-study-3684762.php
  
  the cat doesn't like black widows though ._.
• Maenad wrote on 2012-07-06 12:43
  I thought black widow spiders were so poisonous, you'd die in an hour after being bitten. .-.
  What spider am I thinking of?
• Chockeh wrote on 2012-07-06 13:45

  Quote from Araria;902087:

  I thought black widow spiders were so poisonous, you'd die in an hour after being bitten. .-.
  What spider am I thinking of?

  
  
  It would be extremely painful, but it won't kill you.
• Chiyuri wrote on 2012-07-06 14:06
  didn't black window poison just make the flesh rot around the place it was bitten?
• Sumpfkraut wrote on 2012-07-06 14:18

  Vetter said the less-toxic bite of a brown widow is a good thing. But he says the black widow is native to the area and has evolved over tens of thousands of years with the other animals and plants in the region. Brown widows "don't belong here," he said.

  
  That matters fuck all if Brownie and Blackie fulfill the same role. It didn't seem from the wording like they're some new kind of Bullfrog. If it's a perfect replacement then that Vetter guy does not act morally by preventing it from replacing the black widow, which he will fail to do anyway.
• Juno wrote on 2012-07-06 14:27
  Brown Recluse spiders give you a flesh eating disease that can very well kill you within an hour, though, that's not the typical case.
  
  Black Widows have always been more bark than bite, comparatively.
• Osayidan wrote on 2012-07-06 16:00
  There's also funnel web spiders.
  I feel sorry for australians :scare:
• Kollin wrote on 2012-07-06 16:17

  Quote from Osayidan;902156:

  There's also funnel web spiders.
  I feel sorry for australians :scare:

  
  
  Australian's got everything bad. Poisonous spiders, poisonous fish, poisonous birds, poisonous sharks, poisonous koalas, poisonous rocks, poisonous trees, etc.
• Spartaaaaa wrote on 2012-07-06 16:24

  Vetter said the less-toxic bite of a brown widow is a good thing. But he says the black widow is native to the area and has evolved over tens of thousands of years with the other animals and plants in the region. Brown widows "don't belong here," he said.
  
  Vetter said he kills the brown widow, the eggs and specimens he finds, while releasing black widows back into the wild.

  
  
  I think Vetter needs to rethink his priorities...
• Maenad wrote on 2012-07-06 16:30

  Quote from Kollin;902165:

  Australian's got everything bad. Poisonous spiders, poisonous fish, poisonous birds, poisonous sharks, poisonous koalas, poisonous rocks, poisonous trees, etc.

  
  
  Poison desert on 90% of the continent...
• paladin wrote on 2012-07-07 04:22
  Its part of the enviroment
  so let it be
  who knows
  maybe the blacks will turn around and kick the browns backout
• ♪ wrote on 2012-07-08 05:32

  Quote from Juno;902129:

  Brown Recluse spiders give you a flesh eating disease that can very well kill you within an hour, though, that's not the typical case.
  
  Black Widows have always been more bark than bite, comparatively.

  
  
  This is pretty much what I was going to say, personally I think this is very bad, a lot of you don't like spiders, but imagine if some new type of squirrel was possibly pushing the native squirrel towards extinction in that area. It's essentialy the same thing.
• Sumpfkraut wrote on 2012-07-10 19:48
  I don't know why a decreasing Red Squirrel population is a problem though. It's not like their place in the natural order is left vacant, different as when man hunts e.g. the wolf regionally extinct.
• Drizzit wrote on 2012-07-10 19:51

  Quote from Kollin;902165:

  Australian's got everything bad. Poisonous spiders, poisonous fish, poisonous birds, poisonous sharks, poisonous koalas, poisonous rocks, poisonous trees, etc.

  
  
  And yet their biggest problem is rabbits of all things.
• Joker wrote on 2012-07-11 08:44

  Quote from Juno;902129:

  Brown Recluse spiders give you a flesh eating disease that can very well kill you within an hour, though, that's not the typical case.
  
  Black Widows have always been more bark than bite, comparatively.

  
  
  well to shed a little more light on that it's not an hour its over several days.. the enzyme or poison the spider secretes into the wound acts as both a numbing agent so the victim doesn't feel it and the enzyme breaks down the protein strands in the muscle and skin... which yes is much like a flesh eating disease but its not the same.