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Red Back (Latrodectus mactans hasselti)
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Red Back (Latrodectus mactans hasselti)
The adult female red back is about 2-3 cm long, quite black, with a distinctive red stripe on its abdomen. The male is much smaller and considered harmless. Neither the male or female are aggressive. These spiders come from Australia.
Red back venom can poison you, but it works very slowly. It is very rare for someone to die, even if the wound is not treated.
If you are bitten, it starts getting painful syraight away, and the pain may spread to the whole limb. Sweating is common, and then you get a headache, nausea, vomiting, pain in your stomach, and in severe cases, paralysis. Untreated, the symptoms worsen over a 24 hour period and may take weeks or months to get better.
Another poisonous visitor from Australia is the whitetail spider.