Wasp Spider - dont look if you dont like big, brightly coloured spiders
- Thread starter Kepis
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Wow..she's a beauty. In the first pic we can see just how well she blends into her habitat.
Great photos by the way.
Great photos by the way.
I am very glad to say I've never seen one in the flesh 
the biggest we get are the Atlas ones.
Is that not the alien one that bites ?
Excellent photos though
cheers,
M
the biggest we get are the Atlas ones.Is that not the alien one that bites ?
Excellent photos though
cheers,
M
It certainly bites... if you are a grasshopper
Whether it is a native is an open question, as they were first recorded in the UK in 1922, and has only been spreading away fro SE England in recent years.
I think you are thinking of Steatoda nobilis, which is also over-hyped. Common garden spider can bite people.
I'm pretty sure I meant that waspy looking thing. I didn't know they'd been in the UK that long; I thought they were a post wartime infection
We live and learn, we really do.
Bites though, on a severity scale....how bad do they get with these ? I must have thrown out a hundred spiders this past fortnight and not one bite, nor given thought that they might, but that one that Kepis showed...oh that one would be the jam jar and the postcard to get rid of it :yikes:
cheers,
M
We live and learn, we really do.
Bites though, on a severity scale....how bad do they get with these ? I must have thrown out a hundred spiders this past fortnight and not one bite, nor given thought that they might, but that one that Kepis showed...oh that one would be the jam jar and the postcard to get rid of it :yikes:
cheers,
M
There are at least 2 dozen UK native species capable of piercing human skin. Basically, bigger spiders have bigger fangs, so are more likely to be able to bite. This says nothing about the likelihood of them doing so though. No UK spider species are aggressive, and any bites result from the spider being trapped, either in clothing or by being handled. Your point about handling lots and not being bitten is very much to the point. They just won't bite, unless given no choice.
Bites can be painful, but unless you are unlucky and have an allergic reaction to the venom, no UK species is in any way dangerous to human health. The Steatoda nobilis that I linked to above is probably about the worst, and even then a bad bite would result in an inflamed and painful skin lump and possibly a raised temperature.
The risk (and pain level) from something like a wasp sting and anaphylactic shock is much more severe.
Bites can be painful, but unless you are unlucky and have an allergic reaction to the venom, no UK species is in any way dangerous to human health. The Steatoda nobilis that I linked to above is probably about the worst, and even then a bad bite would result in an inflamed and painful skin lump and possibly a raised temperature.
The risk (and pain level) from something like a wasp sting and anaphylactic shock is much more severe.
***!!!!!!!!! :yikes:
I would have to invest in one of these!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3V8LPHr9Ack
RM
I would have to invest in one of these!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3V8LPHr9Ack
RM
I'm sure I've been bitten by a house spider when younger, also been bitten by ants and stung by wasp/bees I know which I'd rather avoid. I've seen some scary looking spiders abroad but the thing that really scared me was a a bloody big hornet sounding like a buzz saw - kept as far away from that as I could [while still being manly of course]
It would be very interesting if you had. However, a word of caution. A few years ago the Essex Spider Recording Group put out a well-publicised poster asking if anyone had seen the wasp spider, as they wanted to map its distribution within Essex. They included a good clear photograph of the wasp spider, and a clear picture of the common garden spider, which it is most easily confused with by a lay-person. Now to me, they look nothing like each other at all, but apparently the survey was flooded with records of wasp spiders. The Essex recorder told me that every single wasp spider record that he followed up from that survey turned out to be common garden spider, not wasp spider.
In other words, people who don't know spiders tend to get them wrong. You would need a photograph or a specimen before anyone believed your record.
I hope you are right though, as it would only be the third Welsh record ever.
Oh yes, and woods are definitely not the right habitat for wasp spiders. They need long grassland, preferable rough and unmanaged, and usually coastal.
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