The Deadly Brazilian Wandering Spider
By David Botelho
I am learning to inform my audience through an information report.
What is brown, has 8 legs and up to 8 eyes?That's right, a Brazilian Wandering Spider. Did you know that a brazilian wandering spiders real name is Phoneutria and that means murderer in Greek. If you’re thinking you can fight it off with a broom, as we do with most of our eight-legged opponents, think again! The Brazilian wandering spider has been known to frequently climb up the broom handle and bite the human who’s trying to fight him off.
Appearance/habitat:
The Brazilian Wandering Spider are mainly found in tropical South America, with one specie in Central America. These spiders are members of the Ctenidae family of wandering spiders.The Brazilian Wandering Spider is known for wandering the jungle floors during the night, rather than building a web or a lair hence the name. Since this spider is nocturnal, it usually searches for a dark place to take cover during the day which causes it to take cover in houses.
Diet:
Adult Brazilian Wandering Spiders feed on crickets, small lizards and mice. Even though they are fairly large they stick to their prey that is quite small. The struggle to be able to inject enough venom in larger prey to make them able to successfully kill it.If the prey was larger, it would take a large amount of venom to kill it which would create a struggle for the spider.
Venomous Bite:
Many people trap and kill them because they don’t want to take a risk. Breathing problems can occur as well due to the inflammation of the throat and the lungs. Once this venom mixes with serotonin there is going to be pain that is very severe in nature.
However, it should be emphasised here, that this behaviour is primarily defensive, although often mistaken for aggression. In rational terms, Phoneutria spiders only do the same as many other animals: They try to defend themselves when being threatened.The nocturnal spider that seconds before was sitting in a banana stalk, hiding from the daylight, now finds itself in a stressful situation, threatened to be crushed/killed by the five-fingered predator that is now having the spider in its grip. The natural response of the spider to such a situation is a bite.There is no doubt that the venom of some of the species is quite potent for mammals, including humans. Since there is not much information available about the evolution of these spiders, e.g. what triggered their defensiveness or their venom composition, we have to keep in mind that it may be a result of co-evolution of prey-predator interactions.
Mating:
In almost all spider species, the female is larger than the male. The female can be picky, and she often turns down many males before choosing the one she will mate with. Once she does pick one, the male needs to watch out; females often attack the males once copulation is finished.
So now you know that the Brazilian Wandering Spider is the world's deadliest and most venomous spider in the whole world.And did you know there is over thirty five thousand species of spiders and one of those species can kill up to five people and that specie is the Brazilian Wandering Spider the deadliest spider in the world.
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