How fast is a funnel web spider

However with this tendency to enter suburbia, Mick says people need to be vigilant, wearing gloves while gardening, checking shoes before putting them on and not walking around barefoot. Dr Robert Raven, curator of arachnids at Queensland Museum, says the atraxotoxin protein contained within funnel web venom is responsible for its severe effects on the nervous system — shorting out the synapses in the nerves and halting the relaxation cycle.

This causes constant firing of the nerves — or fibrillation — resulting in a number of symptoms including rapid heart rate, increased blood pressure, breathing difficulty and numbness around the mouth. Image: Australian Reptile Park. With their diet consisting of a number of small invertebrates — primarily millipedes — it begs the question, why have these arachnids developed a toxin strong enough to kill a perfectly healthy human within the hour?

However, the venom has polar opposite effects on the two groups, paralysing invertebrates, while causing fibrillation constant firing in primates. And birds are no exception. After a total of 13 recorded fatalities and years of research, an antivenom for the Sydney funnel web was finally developed in While females can live to 20, males only live up to four years old — and can only be sexed at two — giving keepers a brief window of opportunity for milking, and resulting in a short-lived collection that needs to be regularly replaced.

Every year, the park encourages Sydneysiders to catch any funnel webs they encounter and drop them to one of 11 designated drop-off points, and Mick says it makes all the difference.

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They make silk-lined retreats in holes and rot-crevices in a variety of rough-barked trees, including Melaleuca paperbarks , Banksia , Casuarina she-oaks and eucalypts. The exposed web surface tunnel is disguised by a covering of bark or wood particles.

There are often two entrances, each with trip-lines running out across the bark. Prey ranging from beetles to tree frogs are taken by these spiders. Chemicals called pheromones in the female's tripline silk help the male locate and identify her burrow.

Well before mating, the male spins a small silk sperm web, onto which he deposits a droplet of sperm from his abdominal genital pore.

The sperm it is then taken up and stored in the mating organs at the ends of the male's palps. During mating, considerable sparring occurs until the female accepts the male. Both spiders rear up with first legs raised against each other, while the male engages his mating spurs across the bases of the female's second legs. The male then inseminates the female by inserting the tips of his palpal organs into the female's genital opening on the underside of her abdomen.

Only male spiders have been responsible for all recorded funnel-web envenomation deaths - why is it so? The answer lies in a combination of spider behaviour, venom chemistry, and even colonial politics.

During the warmer months of the year November-April male funnel-webs wander about at night looking for females in their burrows. Males wandering in suburban gardens may sometimes become trapped inside houses or garages, especially those with concrete slab foundations where entry points under doors are easily reached. The venom of the male Sydney Funnel-web Spider is very toxic.

This is because male spider venom contains a unique component called Robustoxin d-Atracotoxin-Ar1 that severely and similarly affects the nervous systems of humans and monkeys, but not of other mammals.

The absence of this chemical from female Sydney Funnel-web Spider venom explains why bites by these females have not caused any deaths. However, not all funnel-web species show such a large gender-based difference in venom toxicity. Almost four million people live in the Sydney region, the centre of the distribution of the Sydney Funnel-web Spider.

This makes the likelihood of human encounters with this spider much greater than in less urbanised areas like the Blue Mountains. This situation, of course, stems from a political decision made in London more than years ago, to establish a colony in 'New South Wales' at Sydney Cove, a site nominated by Captain James Cook after his voyage of exploration.

Taken together, these ingredients produce a recipe for unexpected and potentially life-threatening encounters. No deaths have occurred since its introduction. Much of the venom for this research was supplied through a funnel-web venom milking program at the Australian Reptile Park. This antivenom has also been effective against other dangerous funnel-web spider species.

As well, it has been successfully used in cases of mouse spider envenomation. Antivenom is held at major city and regional hospitals. All suspected bites by any funnel-web spider should be regarded as potentially dangerous and treated accordingly. Besides Atrax robustus several other species have been sporadically involved in life threatening envenomations.

Despite the availability of an effective antivenom, correct and immediate first aid is still an essential requirement for funnel-web spider and mouse spider envenomation. Spider bites usually take place on a limb. A pressure bandage should be applied as soon as possible after a bite has occurred.

This should be applied as tightly as for a sprained ankle, starting from the bitten area and binding the entire limb above the bite. A rigid splint should be bound onto the limb to prevent limb movement. The patient should be kept as quiet as possible and medical attention sought.

If possible, keep the spider for positive identification. Despite what many people think, funnel-webs can' t jump. However they can move quickly, and they will rear up when irritated and make sudden lunges when striking.

The females venom was thought to be only about a sixth as potent to humans as that of the male, however, recent research has proven this untrue. The bite of a female or juvenile may be serious, however, considerable variability occurs in venom toxicity between species. Early symptoms of a Funnel Web spider bite include tingling around the mouth and tongue, facial muscle twitching, nausea, vomiting, profuse sweating, salivation and shortness of breath. Patients may rapidly develop agitation, confusion and coma associated with hypertension, metabolic acidosis, dilation of the pupils, generalised muscle twitching and pulmonary edema.

Death results from progressive hypotension or possibly raised intracranial pressure resulting from cerebral edema. The onset of severe envenoming is rapid. In one prospective study, the median time to onset of envenoming was 28 minutes, with only two cases having onset after 2 hours both had pressure immobilization bandages applied. Deaths may occur within a period ranging from 15 minutes this occurred when a small child was bitten to 3 days.

Funnel web spider venom is highly toxic and all species should be considered potentially dangerous. Males wander at night, especially during or after rain and may enter houses. Image Source.

More Fascinating Animals to Learn About. Tangle Web Spiders. Tarantula Spider. Katipo Spider. Mouse Spider.