Deadly Spider Found in Grocery Store

[JohnNJ]

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/artic..._0_Whatwa99771

Go to the link to see photos and video.
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'Deadly' spider may have been harmless, zoo official says

by: SHANNON MUCHMORE World Staff Writer
Thursday, March 19, 2009
3/19/2009 3:01:04 PM


What was originally identified as a deadly spider found at a Tulsa grocery store may have been a harmless species, a curator from the Tulsa Zoo said Thursday.

The spider was taken to the University of Tulsa on Sunday, where animal facilities manager Terry Childs identified it as a Brazilian wandering spider, one of the most lethal in the world.

After the spider gained media attention Wednesday, Barry Downer, curator of aquariums and herpetology at the Tulsa Zoo, said video and photos he had seen led him to believe it was a Huntsman spider and is harmless to humans.

"There's pretty definitive evidence it has been misidentified," he said.

Childs said Wednesday night he had destroyed the spider at the urging of a TU administrator because of safety concerns.

Downer said the spider should have been preserved for study, but he was told the body would not be made available.

"It doesn't make any sense to me why it wouldn't be saved," he said.

A TU spokesman said Thursday the university is looking into how and why the spider was destroyed.

The spider was found in a shipment of bananas at Whole Foods. Childs praised the store's employees for their handling of the situation, and said it can happen at any store.

Copyright © 2009, World Publishing Co. All rights reserved

[hud556]

THose bananas were to die for

hahaha i was waiting for someone to say it!!!

[rebeccabecca]

I want a deadly spider in MY produce! Nothing but fruit flies. When i was a teen we got banana's with a green bug that looked like a roach and was huge!

[MikeG]

did anyone know that daddy long legs (have no idea what there real name is) are one the most poisonous animals? There mouths are too small to bite us though..i just wouldn't eat one

crazy, right?


Mike~

[Jyson]

Here is a new article on the "deadly" spider.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/deadly_sp...USvK2tOokazJV4

[zakomak]

did anyone know that daddy long legs (have no idea what there real name is) are one the most poisonous animals? There mouths are too small to bite us though..i just wouldn't eat one

crazy, right?


Mike~

If you watched mythbusters as much as i do, then you would know that everything you just said was untrue.

[BrucenBruce]

If you were me, you'd know it too. Got bit by a daddy long-legs as a kid, it kind of hurt and _really_ startled, but I'm still here typing this.

~Bruce, who handles daddy long-legs with much more respect these days.

[disabled.101]

did anyone know that daddy long legs (have no idea what there real name is) are one the most poisonous animals? There mouths are too small to bite us though..i just wouldn't eat one

crazy, right?


Mike~

There is an urban legend stating that daddy long-legs spiders have the most potent venom of any spider, but that their chelicerae (fangs) are either too small or too weak to puncture human skin; the same legend is also repeated of the harvestman and crane fly, also called "daddy long-legs" in some locales. Indeed, pholcid spiders do have a short fang structure (called uncate). However, brown recluse spiders also have uncate fang structure, but are able to deliver medically significant bites. Either pholcid venom is not toxic to humans or there is a musculature difference between the two arachnids, with recluses, being hunting spiders, possessing stronger muscles for fang penetration. [5]

In 2004, the Discovery Channel show MythBusters set out to test the daddy long-legs myth (Season 1, Episode 13 "Buried in Concrete"). After measuring the spider's fangs at approximately 0.25 mm (average human skin thickness varies from about 0.5mm to 4mm), the show's host was apparently bitten, although the bite produced little more than a mild short-lived burning sensation. This appears to confirm the suspicion that pholcids can penetrate human skin, but that their venom is practically harmless to humans. Additionally, recent research by Alan Van :cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r: has shown that pholcid venom is actually relatively weak in its effects on insects as well.[6].

From Wikipedia

[Neal]

Yea, I was going to say the daddy long legs myth was proved wrong on myth busters. However, correct me if i'm wrong, the brazilian wandering spider is the most potent of the spiders. I remember them doing a study on it, and it being quite more potent then the sydney funnel web which I believe placed in #2. As far as brown recluses go, their bite can cause nercosis of the affected area. I've had to remove some brown recluses from my house before, not something I like doing.

As far as that spider goes, man, I don't like spiders, especially when they can see me & I can't see them, thats freaky.