LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Spider: Black Widow Spider
built 221 days ago
A black widow spider bite gives the appearance of a target, with a pale area surrounded by a red ring. Severe muscle pain and cramps may develop in the first two hours. Severe cramps are usually first felt in the back, shoulders, abdomen and thighs. Other symptoms include weakness, sweating, headache, anxiety, itching, nausea, vomiting, difficult breathing and increased blood pressure. Young children, the elderly and those with high blood pressure are at highest risk of developing symptoms from a black widow spider bite.
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The name "Brown Recluse" describes the color and the habits of this increasingly infamous spider. Brown Recluse spiders, with the scientific name of Loxosceles reclusa are one of the few spiders in the United States that are known to be very harmful to humans. It is regarded by some as more dangerous than the Black Widow spider because it is considered a house spider and isn't as simple to identify.
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The black widow spider is a shiny, inky black spider with a large round tail segment (abdomen). Including its legs, the black widow generally measures from one-half inch to one inch in length. Red to orange-colored markings, usually in the shape of an hourglass, are found on the underside of the belly.
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The venom of the female black widow spider is 15 times as toxic as the venom of the Prairie Rattlesnake. Only a minute amount of the toxin is injected in a single bite by the spider ... so they are rarely fatal. By comparison, the relatively large amount of injected rattlesnake venom results in about 15 to 25 percent mortality among those bitten.
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Distribution -- Though more abundant in the southern states, the black widow spider occurs throughout most of the Western Hemisphere. This species may hide in sheltered, dimly lit places such as barns, garages, basements, outdoor toilets, hollow stumps, rodent holes, trash, brush, and dense vegetation. Black widows usually seek dry, sheltered sites such as buildings during periods of cold weather.
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The black widow is a medium-sized spider whose body is about a half-inch long. The name is derived from the mistaken belief that the female invariably kills the male after mating. Two species are common to the United States.
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Black Widow Spider