(I know these aren't insects but it's spooky season.)
The Phoneutria, or the Brazilian wandering spider, sometimes called the banana spider! (I used orange because I couldn't see the yellow.)
They just want banana🍌🕷 😫🥺
Also their species name is abnormally short because it's just the Greek word for murderess.
The anatomy of the minacious insects arachnids!!
Their legs can grow between 13 - 18 cm (5.1 - 7.1 in), and their body length can be from 17 - 48 mm (0.67 - 7.89 in)
They're araneomorphs, and have the longest body and body length in said group.
They usually have red hairs on their chelicerae (The appendages on their mouth), but some species may lack these hairs.
Both males and females have thick hair on their pediap tibia and their tarsi.
The fully developed males have bulges on the end of their chelicerae.
They either have black dots on their abdomen or have a significantly redder abdomen compared to the rest of their body. They also have black bands on the underside of their abdomen.
They're one of the only species of spider that can actually harm humans.
Only 2.3% of their bites are ever serious enough to need anti-venom, and this is mostly in reference to children.
Their self-restraint with their venom is very lucky, as their venom is stronger than even a black widow spider.
The males usually have less portent venom than females, except the species P. boliviensis.
The symptoms occur around 10 minutes after the bite and death might occur only 2 hours after the bite, in one case, death occurred only 40 minutes after the bite (Although this was in a child). The symptoms of a dangerous bite includes; There is a severe pain spreading across the entire limb, tachycardia, increased blood pressure, vertigo, fever, sweating, visual disturbances, nausea, vomiting, difficulty breathing, hypothermia, abdominal cramping, and paralysis. The cause of death tends to be respiratory arrest caused by these symptoms.
Part of why their venom is painful due to the high concentration of serotonin. If you're feeling down, don't seek these guys out for your serotonin.
They produce less venom during colder months, and more venom in hotter months. in cold months they have around 0.44 mg, and in hotter months 1.84 is the average. Some individual spider have had up to 8 mg of venom, this was in October, which would be considered a colder month. 7 mg of dried venom can kill 500 mice subcutaneously and 1,000 intravenously (Comparison courtesy of Wikipedia.).
They have been listed as the most venomous animals in the world by Guinness world records, although they do not currently hold that title.
There are only 6 species of Phoneutria.
The females can store any sperm produced after mating in a separate web chamber until they want to fertilize their eggs, and will lay up to 1,000 eggs.
They can live up to one or two years.
They can run very fast due to their strong legs. Unfortunately.
They can weave webs, although they only use this to hunt, climb, or wrap their eggs in.
Diet.
They eat flies, beetles, butterflies, moths, grasshoppers, locusts, crickets, other spiders, small amphibians, mice, and some females have been observed to eat lizards and snakes.
The younger spiders eat flightless fruit flies and pinhead crickets.
Prior to common belief, they do not eat bananas, they just live on banana plants.
Behavior.
When threatened, they cock up and raise their front two legs, revealing the dark bands on the underside of their abdomen. Some species use this to reveal the red hairs on their fangs.
They don't weave webs to live in, rather they wander around jungles at night (Hence the name.). During the day they hide in things like termite mounds, fallen logs, banana plants, and bromeliads. The specific species Phoneutria nigriventer hides in dark and moist places and around human dwellings.
Due to the fact that the P. nigriventer hide in dark places, they may hide in peoples houses and clothing, where if disturbed they might bite their perpetrator.
They can deliver dry bites where they purposely don't use venom. They've been reported to only use venom in one-third of their bites.
They have been known to accidentally bite.
The males tend to be very cautious when trying to mate with a female, and will try to dance to get their attention. Often times this leads to rejection, but if the female does choose to mate with them, they will try to leave quickly afterwards to avoid being attacked, as female spiders tend to attack or kill their mating partners.
Habitat.
They're found in forests in Costa Rica, Colombia, Venezuela, the Guianas, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, northern Argentina, Panama, Chile, and Uruguay.
There is one species of Phoneutria that can only be found in the Amazon.
They live in forests, jungles, and Cerrado savannahs.
Some people have reported these spider being in their item shipments, usually of bananas. Although these reports are almost never actually a Phoneutria species. There have only been seven confirmed reports that were actually a Phoneutria.
Moriarty had decided that he needed to have a little chat with Rani. The Rani, he reminded himself. He hated the times when he was just as dull as everyone else. He should have known sooner. No matter, it would be settled now.
He waited for her to arrive at the office at their scheduled time. Whether this talk went in her favour or not, they had a few things to discuss. While he waited he pulled up his computer and looked at a few of his newer messages. A few packages to smuggle, a few people to kill, a blood feud to start? That looked like fun. He set it aside to look at more thoroughly when he had time.
He waited until his security informed him that she had arrived before he closed down his computer and leaned back in his chair, relaxing as he waited. He did not want things to seem overly different, but she needed to understand that this was serious. The normal smile that was on his face when she entered was gone and replaced with a blank expression.
