Widow spiders have received much attention due to the frequently reported human and animal injures caused by them. Elucidation of the molecular composition and action mechanism of the venoms and toxins has vast implications in the treatment of latrodectism and in the neurobiology and pharmaceutical research. In recent years, the studies of the widow spider venoms and the venom toxins, particula...

There are more than 30,000 species of spiders, most of which cannot inflict serious bites to humans because of their delicate mouthparts and impotent or prey-specific venoms. However, some spiders produce toxic venoms that can cause skin lesions, systemic illnesses, and neurotoxicity. One of the more common bites is inflicted by the widow spiders (Latrodectus species). A bite from a widow spide...

Tarantulas have recently become as pets in most parts of the world that increased the probability of encountering emergency physicians with patients hurt with these spiders. Their attacks usually do not cause general manifestation, however there are some case reports in this regard. Here, a 40-year-old man was reported who was referred to the emergency department with severe periumbilical pain ...

Spiders in the superfamily Araneoidea produce viscous glue from aggregate silk glands. Aggregate glue coats prey-capture threads and hampers the escape of prey from webs, thereby increasing the foraging success of spiders. cDNAs for Aggregate Spider Glue 1 (ASG1) and 2 (ASG2) have been previously described from the golden orb-weaver, Nephila clavipes, and Western black widow, Latrodectus hesper...

We present the material analysis of scaffolding silk from the cobweb of the black widow spider Latrodectus hesperus. 30 strands were tested from the webs of nine spiders. Strands were stretched at 0.211 mm/s as force and extension were recorded. Cross-sectional area was measured under 1000 x oil-immersion light microscopy. The stress strain curve shows that cobweb silk is a distinct material fr...

following the hospitalization of 195 individuals due to the spider bite in 1995 and three cases of recorded death in the year of 1993 which were referred to emam reza hospital in mashad, the present study was undertaken on bionomics and medical importance of lathrodectus spp in khorasan province, during 1995-2005. a total cases of 195 bites were studied composing of 70.8 % males and 29.2% femal...