Steatoda nobilis - media over-reaction

[wilippa]

BBC News - Venomous spider's nest found in Buckinghamshire garden

Anyone else annoyed by this, or is it just me?

[sebastianbawn]

Ignorance. Why do the media hype everything up? Okay Steatoda nobilis along with others of it's kind can have painful bites, but they will not bite if you just leave them alone, in fact they would usually just run away. Adding their family ties to Black Widows is straight away going to scare a lot of people, it is extremely misleading. If it was a nest of Adders would they warn everyone? Or a nest of bees (over 10 people a year die from bee/wasp stings)? Either of these could end with a hospital visit (anaphylactic shock). My brother almost died from an Adder bite!

I think these reporters have a lot to answer for. I saw a similar thread of what appeared to be an Amaurobius ferox and alot of hype of how they had found a Funnel-Web Spider in the UK! If only they took the time to actually research their subjects.

This kind of story will help create a lot more Arachnophobes, it's simply wrong. We should be aware of the capabilities this species has, but it should not be made out to be a monster. The bites cause no lasting effects, they can cause fever/nausea/chest pains, but spider bites are rare!

I think it's right to educate people about our wildlife, but without all the hype!

[wilippa]

Thank you Sebastian. I'm glad it wasn't just me thinking that the BBC (and MK Council) were a bit over the top with this one. One person hospitalised is not really news - like you say 10 die a year from bee and wasp stings - doubt that many die from spider bites in the UK!

[wilippa]

Also, I get quite annoyed by the term "venomous spider" for reasons you ALL know well!

[sebastianbawn]

I don't Why is that?

[wilippa]

Aren't they all venomous?! Calling it a "venomous spider" makes it sound dangerous - like saying "venomous snake". (which is not annoying, because some aren't!)

[sebastianbawn]

I see what you are saying, and I guess they are when you look at it like that. Thing is species like Segestria florentina can cause painful bites, and they surround every single building I walk past in Bristol! And others like Dysdera, Steatoda grossa. even Tegenaria and Araneus can nip. But when all is said and done, most people who get bit are either unlucky or foolish. Respect them, and chances are you will never get bitten.

I don't understand why this media moguls don't ask the opinion of qualified arachnologists, or even WAB experts! Hearsay and scaremongery is a poor way to report on a spider

[wilippa]

Well, I suppose MK Council has a vested interest in scaremongering and getting people to call for pest control.

[No.9 Spider]

Unfortunately it's the story of the whole country nowadays, we are run by the media (and celebrity culture in a plastic society) who survive on inventing sensationalistic themes to stories. The people behind these stories do little research and are often poorly informed.
At least in this article the spiders weren't 'poisonous' ha ha!
They have obviously confused a couple of the 'Widow' species, losing the distinctive hour glass on the underside of Black Widow - Latrodectus Mactans, in favour of a 'red spot' on the back, confusion with the Australian 'redback' perhaps? (though this is usually more of a stripe).

.........and of course we have the spider 'nests' he he!

.............."The small spiders are related to the black widow and look similar to them but do not have the distinctive red spot on their backs."

[wilippa]

Originally Posted by No.9 Spider

.........and of course we have the spider 'nests' he he!

[/i]"

In my red mist of "media anger" I missed the inaccuracy over the red hourglass mark but you'll have to explain the "nest" thing to me - I take it that's an inaccurate way to describe spider egg ball thingys (also a somewhat inaccurate way to put it, for which I apologise).