Though false widow spiders have had a lot of bad publicity lately, they are an interesting species of arachnid. To lighten the mood we have got 10 interesting facts on false widow spiders:
- The false widow spider is in fact called Steatoda Nobilis, they got the name false widow from the confusion with the famous black widow spider
- The false widow spider is native to Madeira and the Canary Islands
- The spider landed in the UK in Torquay before 1879, they are thought to have traveled in cargo
- To move around, false widow spiders are known to thread silk and create a ballooning affect to get about. Almost like using a air balloon to travel
- The false widow spider is related to the black widow spider, though not nearly as toxic
- Experts believe that false widow spiders have spread more in the UK due to climate change and increasingly warmer weather
- The false widow spider eats insects, invertebrates and even other spiders
- False widow spiders form into a tight ball when knocked from their web or handled, biting is the very last resort
- Like many species of spiders the female is known to be more dangerous then the male false widow spider, in fact the male false widow is not known to bite
- There have been no deaths from a false widow spider to date
So there you go! 10 interesting facts about false widow spiders. We hope you enjoyed our post and remember if you want to contact us click here.
