The
Red-back is found in all parts of Australia except in the hottest deserts and on the
coldest
mountains, so be especially cautious if you find yourself having to reach in places
where you have limited visibility such as behind your
corner entertainment center.
. It is the only dangerous spider with an
Australia-wide
distribution. Red-backs are very common in Summer. The female Red-back has a spherical
satin-black abdomen with an orange-red stripe. The abdomen is usually about 1 cm in
diameter. Eight long delicate legs arise from the tiny front segment of the body.
The male
is only about one-third the size of the female and is considered harmless to humans
because his fangs are so small. The male's markings are not as bright as the female as
seen in this picture. It is usually easy to identify a female Red-back although her stripe
may be orange, pink or even light grey.
After
mating, the female eats the male. The female spins up to 8 round balls of web for her
eggs. Some of these may contain as many as 300 eggs. If the weather is warm, the
spiderlings hatch after about 2 weeks and will moult several times as they grow before
they reach full size.
Unlike the
Sydney Funnel-web, the Red-back is not aggressive and if molested will usually fall to the
ground, curl up and feign death. If disturbed while guarding her eggs or cornered, she
will bite the intruder with her small but effective fangs. Most bites occur when the
spider is trapped against the skin e.g. when clothes are put on that contain a spider, or
picked up in rubbish. Most bites occur on the hands or feet than the rest of the body.
Although this spider injects only a tiny amount of venom, it can cause serious
illness and deaths used to occur before an antivenom became available in 1956. The action
of the venom is unique as it can attack all the nerves of the body and in serious cases
cause a paralysis which may lead to death. At first the bite is only as painful as a minor
insect sting, but after a few minutes it becomes intense and spreads to other parts of the
body. A special feature seen only with Red-back bites is that the bitten limb may sweat
profusely while the rest of the skin remains dry. Fortunately the serious affects of the
venom take several hours or even days to develop and there is plenty of time for treatment
with antivenom. Remember that most bites can be avoided if you keep your eyes open for
that tell-tale red stripe.
The Brown Widow is of the same group as the Red-back and the Black Widow but
its toxin is about one-tenth the strength of the Red-back toxin and does not cause the
same severe reaction. It can be a garden pest of plague proportions.
Check out more photos of all these spiders on
the Spider photos pages.
REDBACK SPIDER BITES
MAN MORE THAN 20 TIMES:
COURIER MAIL - Wednesday, 11 July, 2001: An Alice Springs man who was bitten on the bottom more than 20 times by a Redback spider
needed 16 doses of antivenene to survive.
Darren Meehan, 25, believes he may have caught the spider in his jeans during a visit to an outside toilet. It had then crawled into his bed.
Mr Meehan now holds the record for the most antivenene ever injected into a person in Australia. He was attacked by the Red back spider as he lay sleeping in his
bed in Alice Springs last month., but he was still getting shots of antivenene on Monday as he has been unable to shake off the effects of the huge amount of
poison in his system. |
The head of Alice Springs Hospital's emergency department said it was the worst Red back bite ever recorded in Australia. Emergency physician, Dr
Elizabeth Mowatt said, "This is the biggest bite I know if on record." The most serious Red back bite previously recorded only required eight doses of antivenene.
Mr Meehan said he slept through the attack and it was not until the next morning that he found more than 20 angry red bite marks on his right buttock. 48 hours
later, he was doubled over in extreme pain.
Mr Meehan is now recovering from his ordeal and the bites. |
24 August, 2006:
In the letter it says that "a Red-back spider attacted him as he lay
sleeping." Spiders will not bite you for no reason. I have several
spiders of my own and one of them being a black widow. She
will run and keep to herself except for catching prey. What
probably happened is that the man turned, just so happened to
be on the spider, naturally the spider in its only defence did the
only thing it could. That letter basically shown the spider as
the attacker when it was protecting its own life. I have a great
respect for all creatures. I just felt that this was a
misrepresentation of an animal. To me it felt like there was a
bias against this spider. I just thought that I should say
something about it. I enjoyed reading the rest of your site. Thank
you for your time.
Sincerely,
AdamReply: I totally
agree with Adam, spiders are misrepresented and misunderstood by the
majority of the people. This is why I do a unit on spiders every
year with my Year 5 class and hopefully will influence at least 28
kids to look on spiders with respect but not the irrational fear
that comments in news stories such as this one engender. It is also
the reason why I spend around 20 hrs a week on this site in my spare
time!! glen |
Information
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child does not claim to be original information. Where possible, permission
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Its close relative, the
The
Red-back is found in all parts of Australia except in the hottest deserts and on the
coldest
