and i thought... that looks a bit Widowy to me, had a further little peek...
So had a little gander on the web to see if there were any other species that looked similar. I at this point say that false widow spiders are Britains most venomous spider although there are 3 species that look very similar with only 1 being any threat.
Steatoda nobilis is the nasty one that is to have reportedly of originated from the canary islands, and has been cotching down south (like the stick insects) for around 100 of years now, but due to warmer summers they have come alot more south and people have started running around screaming and making babies cry and the tabloids to go mental (as per usual)
"False widow spider bite reports include symptoms such as chest pains, swelling and tingling of fingers."This one however seems to be a similar species called Steatoda grossa judging by the semi circle abdominal markings, so my slight alarm as it ran under the sofa was in vain *phew*
"Their bites are known to cause pain and discomfort for a small portion of the population, however for most people, their bite produces no side effects"so its only an issue if you are allegic, to be fair, even if you are bitten by a real widow (Latrodectus sp.) even untreated you still only have a 1 in 8 chance of dying unless you are old or really small
in other news, the post man came and delivered this...
Its weird really i can deal with a box of hundreds of dead chicks, but not a frozen cat. Figures
Sources: greennature and Natural History Museum
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