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The Sydney funnel-web spider is the most venomous in the world. This scientists already knew since it has 13 people have been reported to have been killed by it. What some Australian scientists didn’t know, but recently discovered, is that there are actually three species of Sydney funnel-web spiders and the one they nicknamed the “Newcastle big boy” is the largest ever seen in Australia and the deadliest spider in the world.
In new research published in the journal BMC Ecology and Evolution, scientists from the Australian Museum, Flinders University and Germany’s Leibniz Institute found that the 3.54-inch-long species Atrax christenseni is actually distinct from the “classic” Sydney funnel-web (Atrax robustus) and the Southern Sydney funnel-web (Atrax montanus).
“When our international team of researchers ‘reopened the case’ on the Sydney funnel-web, we looked at fine morphological details and gene sequences across the region and found the species split into three distinct groups,” said Dr. Helen Smith, an arachnologist at the Australian Museum.
“The Newcastle funnel-web, Atrax christenseni – dubbed Big Boy – is a totally new species. The ‘true’ Sydney Funnel-web, Atrax robustus centers on the North Shore of Sydney and the Central Coast, and the Southern Sydney Funnel-web, Atrax montanus, is a resurrected species name from 1914,” said lead researcher, Dr. Stephanie Loria of the Leibniz Institute.
According to Live Science…
Called funnel-web spiders after their long, narrow, silk-lined burrows these spiders can live in suburban areas and wander into houses during the summer when males leave the burrow to search for mates. Their venom contains a toxin that attacks the human nervous system, so bites need immediate medical attention — otherwise, a victim can die within 15 minutes.
The Sydney funnel-web spider’s venom, which contains potent neurotoxins, can cause numbness in the mouth, profuse sweating and salivation, muscle spasms, difficulty breathing, confusion and disorientation, tachycardia, and in at least 13 cases, death. Its venom, according to ZME Science, “is often compared to the venom of other deadly creatures such as the box jellyfish and inland taipan.”
The good news, besides the scientific discovery, of course, is that there have been no human deaths attributed to Sydney funnel-web spiders since an antivenom was introduced in the 1980s. Funnel-web spiders are also not aggressive in nature, but will attack if they feel cornered.
“You would think that a spider like that had been studied to death… because it’s so relevant. There’s practical relevance because people get bitten each year,” Danilo Harms, co-author of the study and an arachnologist at the University of Gottingen in Germany, told Live Science. “Finding that very little had been done, looking into the very basic stuff you’d want to know, was surprising.”