Did you know...? | Spider news archives
The poison used against insects can make the spider plagues even bigger.
Some people believe that by using poison for insects on the furniture and stairs of the house will not only kill the insects but also the spiders which eat them, assuming that these ones are poisoned since they’ve received the poison by eating their preys or just because they ran out of food.
However, a new research, realized by Jamel Sandidge, doctorade student of Kansas University, which was published in November in the Nature magazine, shows that the use of insecticide can make the spider plagues worse instead of reducing them.
Sandidge said that according to the conventional knowledge, the use of poison kills the insects that the spider eats, what reduces its amount of food and leads the spider to die from starving. But this doesn’t happen, said Sadidge, who is chasing a degree in ecology and biology evolution.
After observing the spiders in 71 houses of Kansas and doing lab experiments, reached a conclusion: the spider called Brown Recluse Spider, (Loxosceles reclusa, Araneae: Loxascelidae) of United Sates, feeds itself with dead insects. In fact, when it can choose, it prefers to eat the dead insect rather the one that is alive, said.
“This is really amazing”, added Sadidge. “The brown recluse spider is supposed to be a predator and to feed itself with alive insects”. The preference of the brown recluses for the dead insects explains why there so many of them in corners of typical houses, said Sadidge.
------------------
Necrosis produced in the bite of a Loxosceles
In his research of three years found that the houses have an average of 65 of these spiders. The bite of a brown recluse can cause slight injuries that take long to heal and causes serious damages in the tissue. The bite of the recluse spider can go from slight to serious, and sometimes can also be lethal.
What does Sandidge recommend, if using the poison in the house doesn’t work?. The insecticide can kill the spider if it goes straight to it, said, but in general, the spiders don’t receive a mortal dose when the move along the corners, as it happens with insects. An option is using sticky tramps.
Sandidge offers some advise in his both sites of internet: Recluse Community Project and Problems with Brown Recluse Spider?. The last one is a project that started in 2002 to help the owner of a house that needed to face a brown recluse spider.
Besides, Sandidge, has said that is a good idea to shake the covers and blankets before going to bed and to shake the shoes before wearing them, to make sure there is any of them in there.
|
