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Sep 21, 2020 · Funnel webs are considered one of Australia’s most fearsome spiders, but their ability to kill humans is by accident rather than design, our new research shows.
Sep 24, 2020 · Funnel-web-spider venom has thousands of components, but delta-hexatoxins, the specific molecules within it that kill people, are produced in particularly large quantities by sexually mature...
Oct 1, 2020 · Funnel-web spider venom has thousands of components, but delta-hexatoxins, the specific molecules within it that kill people, are produced in particularly large quantities by sexually...
- Spotting A Funnel-Web
- Wistful Wanderers
- Minutes to Live
- Never Intended to Be Man-Killers
- Life-Saving Antivenom
There are 35 species of funnel web, a number of which are found along Australia’s eastern coast, from New South Wales to Queensland – however, only one holds the title of world’s deadliest spider. The Sydney funnel-web (Atrax robustus) is generally found in both suburbia and bushland in an area bound by Newcastle to the north and Illawarra to the s...
Females are generally sedentary, remaining within burrows, their entrances framed by the species’ characteristic ‘funnel’ webbing, often positioned beneath rocks or logs in suburban gardens and bushland. Males are more active, especially after summer rain, when they begin to wander looking for females, and this is when people generally come into co...
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 symp...
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? “It’s an evolutionary accident,” Robert explains. “The venom is highly effective on two groups – invertebrates and primates,” Mick sa...
After a total of 13 recorded fatalities and years of research, an antivenom for the Sydney funnel web was finally developed in 1981. “And we haven’t had a fatality since,” Mick says. The Australian Reptile Park plays a vital role in the production of the antivenom, with five staff dedicated to the country’s only funnel web venom-milking program. Pr...
Sep 22, 2020 · Australian funnel webs are among a small group of spiders whose venom can kill humans. However all 13 recorded deaths occurred before anti-venom was introduced in 1981. Funnel web venom is lethal because it contains a type of neurotoxin called “delta-hexatoxin”.
- Angela Heathcote
Feb 26, 2024 · Over 40 species of funnel-web spiders (FWSs) have been identified. The Hadronyche, Illawarra, and the Atrax are 3 genera restricted to Australia. The Atrax robustus is implicated in most human fatalities due to FWS venom toxicity.
Feb 20, 2024 · The Sydney funnel-web spider's venom fascinates us just as much as it kills us. The venom's neurotoxins can cause death within 15 minutes after the spider's fangs pierce...
