Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio, Hey brain Stuff Lauren Vogelbaum here. David Nelson, now an associate professor of biology at Southern Adventist University in College Dale, Tennessee, remembers being a PhD student sprawling on his belly under the slide at the elementary school playground in search of a tangled web of the lectri dectus hesperate, otherwise known as the Western black widow spider. Hid know it when he saw it, the sticky silk threads spun in messy
snarls characteristic of such wondrous creatures. If he nudged the web in just the right place with his long pair of forceps, he could catch the spider before it escaped and tuck it into one of his plastic bags where dozens of other black widows lay in wait. It didn't matter to him that one bite from the shiny black spider could send his muscles into painful spasms within minutes, that even if he went to the emergency room writhing in pain, doctors likely wouldn't have the anti venom to
treat him. That would have to wait out the burning, throbbing, and involuntary muscle contractions for hours or possibly days, until the symptoms eventually subsided. Nelson wasn't concerned because he was getting to know these and I quote sexy little organisms rather well. They played a starring role in his doctoral research and he wanted to understand them better. So how did the black widow spider get its name and why
does it have such a reputation. Nelson says he chose the black widow for his research because quote their mysterious and dangerous. Indeed, the black widow is technically one of the deadliest spiders in the world. About black widow bites are reported to the u S National Poison Data System each year. But its name comes not so much from the spider's ability to kill humans, but from a cannibalistic
behavior noticed the species during copulation. A science collected samples of male and female black widows and stored them in the same container. When they came back to check on the spiders, they discovered that the female widows had eaten the males. This so called spider cannibalism is not too rare in the spider world in general. Nelson says it usually involves the female eating the male before during or after copulation, but it is rarely seen in black widows
that inhabit North America. Black widow males in nature tend to escape quickly after copulating a luxury that they weren't afforded caged together with females in the laboratory setting. Also, research shows that black widows can sense chemicals and the female's web that indicate whether she has recently eaten. They
know to avoid hungry females just in case. Black widows build their tangled cobwebs in dark, dry places, woodpiles, barns, greenhouses, basements, outhouses, in the chains, hollow stumps, under lawn furniture, in playground oquipment, and in dense vegetation. They hide during the day in tiny crevices or rodent holes, and creep out onto their webs during the night. When they do, they usually hang upside down, waiting for a fly or grasshopper to get
trapped in the sticky threads of their web. When an insect gets caught, the widow quickly runs over and wraps it in silk. Then, at meal time, the spider digs its fangs into its prey, injecting the insect with digestive juices until it liquefies, and then the widow sucks up the resulting bug juice. So how can you tell when you're face to face, so to speak, with a black widow spider? Here are the identifying characteristics. Female black widow spiders are about an inch and a half or three
point eight centimeters in length with long legs. Mails are about half that size. Female black widow spiders have a shiny black body with the well known hourglass shape on their abdomens in red, red, orange, or yellow. Males are lighter in color with red or pink spots, but color variations and markings vary depending on the species. Black widow spiders are generally not aggressive, though only by the person
if they're touched, trapped, or sat upon. There are thirty two species of spiders in the Latrodectus genus, many of which are considered true widows. You can find black widows in every continent of the world except Antarctica. But again, black widows are not aggressive. They're shy. Even if you find one, there's no point in grabbing bug spray or swatting it dead. They won't come after you. In fact, they don't want to be around you as much as you don't want to be around them, leave them be.
Nelson has found that if you pick a black widow spiders webs, they'll bolt for cover. If they can't hide, they'll play dead. If you touch them and they can't escape, they will dig their fangs into you. But interestingly, if you pull gently on one of their legs with a pair of feather light tweezers, they'll reach back into their
spinneret and a sticky strand of silk your way. This defensive silk, which Nelson describes as a looking quote just like a pearl necklace, sticks to predators, drives quickly, and can afford the widow extra time to get away. He said, I know of no other spiders that actively protect themselves with silk. Plus, black widows play an important role in our ecosystem, feasting on many insects species, especially small, annoying
insects like mosquitoes and flies. Bites usually occur by accident, for instance, if you stick your hand in a gardening glove and startle one that's hiding there. Females are much more likely than males to envenomate, that is, inject venom into humans. The venom is pretty potent, up to fifteen times stronger than a rattlesnakes. You can actually die from
a black widow bite, but it's unlikely. One study looking at twenty three thousand, four hundred and nine cases of exposure to black widow venom found that only one point four percent of patients had life threatening symptoms and six five percent had minor symptoms. Young children, the elderly, and people with compromised immunity are at a greater risk of serious complications. Black widow venom is so dangerous because it contains neurotoxins, which are toxins that act on the nervous system,
called later toxins. If they're tiny, fangs do break your skin, which will feel like a pin prick, and the venom does enter your bloodstream, you'd know pretty quickly. Within seconds, you would feel pain and throbbing at the bite site. The area around your wound would begin to swell As a venom traveled through your bloodstream, The pain, swelling and muscle contractions would spread as well. If your diaphragm was affected, breathing would become labored, your heart might begin to race,
and you might become nauseated sweat, or experienced chills. For minor bites, all you need to do is wash the affected area with soap and water and taken over the counter pain medication. But if you have serious symptoms like the ones described above, seek medical attention. Healthcare provider can better treat pain, and if they decide that the FDA proved Blackwadow anti venom is necessary, and if they have it available, it's availability is limited, you'll feel better within hours.
It's unlikely that you'll be hospitalized and even less likely that you'd die. Today's episode was written by Jennifer Walker Joony and produced by Tyler Clang. For more on this months of other topics that we've spun out, visit how stuff works dot com. Brain Stuff is production of I heart Radio or more podcasts. My heart Radio visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows,