Deadly black widow spiders found in Barton-upon-Humber
The spiders display a distinctive red hour-glass marking on
their abdomen.
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Four black widow spiders were found by workers in North Lincolnshire
after hitching a ride in a consignment of jet engines from the US. The
venomous visitors dropped out of the engines close to an engineer at TC
Power in Barton-upon-Humber.
Managing director Stuart Elliott said they had to stop work as soon
as the spiders were discovered.
The firm has put the spiders in a glass container and are planning to
rehome them with local spider experts.
"One of our engineers was actually underneath the engine," said Mr
Elliott. "One of his colleagues had noticed that a black spider had
appeared out of the bottom of the engine frame and was reared up on his
back legs. So we pulled everybody off the engines at that point."
Staff identified the spider on the internet by the distinctive red
hour glass marking on its abdomen. The Black Widow is one of the world's
most venomous spiders. It is native to North and Central America.
Their name derives from the belief that the females eat the male
after mating, something naturalists say rarely happens in the wild. The
females are twice the size of the male and possess a powerful venom
designed to kill much larger prey. Craig Gledhill from the Jungle Zoo in
Cleethorpes was approached by the firm for advice on dealing with the
spiders. He said that a bite could prove fatal for some people.
"A healthy human, although it would be a very serious incident if
they were to be bitten, if they received quite quick medical treatment
they most likely would survive. If the individual bitten was elderly or
a small child or anybody with a heart or respiratory problem, then they
would be in great danger from the neurotoxic venom."
The animals are currently housed in a glass container and are being
fed with flies by the workers. The company plans to give them to local
zoos and other spider specialists. |