Black Widow Spiders vs. Brown Widow Spiders

The media attention that was given to the brown widow garden spider has created the false impression that the brown widow is a new danger in southern California. Reports have correctly stated that the spider's venom is fairly potent but because the spider injects so little, it is not of major consequence. All spiders have fangs and small amounts of poison, but in this region, the female Black Widow Spider is the only one dangerous to humans and it is rare in the northern states. It prefers damp dark places, such as under boards or in cellars. The body is black with an orange or red mark, shaped like an hourglass, on the under side of the abdomen. Yet one hyperbolic report stated that the spider hasn't killed anyone so far. This is not surprising because the brown widow is not a dangerous nor deadly spider. Even though it has venom of high toxicity, this is typically determined with injections of venom into mice or rabbits and conclusions from this are inferred with little real-world relevance. Much more relevant is the effects of actual spider bites. An African medical study reports on the bites of fifteen brown widows in humans . Only two symptoms of brown widow envenomation were reported in the majority of bite victims: 1) pain during the bite and 2) a noticeable mark where the bite happened. That's it. Not much more. The bite of the brown widow is similar to any non-poisonous spider. It stings and leaves a little mark on the skin. There are none of the serious, exaggerated symptoms that one would exhibit when bitten by a black widow. So even though the non-native brown widow is virtually harmless, it is getting all this publicity and people are concerned about it. The hyperbolic response of the media and the general public to this new resident of California is ludicrous considering there are millions (maybe billions) of native black widows, Latrodectus hesperus, all over southern California, which have a far more poisonous venom than the brown widow, poses a much greater potential danger due to its great numbers and venom toxicity than the brown widow could ever hope to pose, black widow bites do occasionally happen, no one dies, people see black widows all the time, kill them and are not particularly concerned about them. Yet you don't see media articles about the black widow because it isn't "news". The brown widow is not a spider of medical concern and is not likely to become one. It isn't dangerous where it currently lives and there is no reason to believe that all of a sudden it will become dangerous now that it is in California. The native black widow is still the major garden spider of potential medical importance in California

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