Ireland has already conquered the "false widow" Steatoda nobilis.
Now researchers are painting a gloomy poison bite scenario in parts of Germany for noble ball spiders.
It took 23 years.
From first sighting to taking over Ireland.
For Great Britain, the noble orb spider known as the "False Widow" took even longer.
But the invasive "Steatoda nobilis" is now spreading rapidly - and regularly causes shock reports in the British Isles.
Because it not only destroys ecosystems, but also endangers people.
Probably the greatest expert on this spider species paints a gloomy scenario for
echo24.de
– for Germany.
dr
Michel Dugon of the National University of Ireland (NUI) has dedicated himself to the noble orb spider dubbed the "False Widow".
And his team's studies in the British Isles are shocking.
Because Steatoda nobilis is not afraid of native spiders or mammals.
On the contrary: the eight-legged friend eats both protected pipistrelle bats and shrews.
And it can mark people with its bacterial poison bites - up to and including amputations.
kind | Noble orb spider (Steatoda nobilis) |
Origin | Madeira/Canaries |
First proof in Germany | 2011 in a Cologne garden center |
food | Arthropods, but also increasingly small mammals |
bite hazard for humans | Infections that can lead to amputations of affected limbs |
"False Widow" conquers Germany - established populations in two garden centers in Cologne
There is no big talk in Germany about the appearance of the noble ball spider, known as the “false widow”.
Although the neozoan has long since arrived - and forms populations.
A research article from the State Museum of Natural History in Karlsruhe (SMNK) from 2019 confirms this. Since its first sighting on October 10, 2011 in a large garden center in the west of Cologne - the population of Steatoda nobilis, which spreads by means of plant imports, has increased there .
A month later, the Noble Ball Spider, known as the “false widow”, was also discovered in a second garden center in Cologne.
The SMNK research paper “Steatoda nobilis, a false widow on the rise” says about both of them:
“Several specimens and/or intact webs could be observed at every visit in the following years.
At both sites, the species inhabited the aluminum window profiles.”
In addition, young animals have often been observed on commercially available potted plants.
"False widow" also spotted in Stuttgart - researchers see suitable habitats in Germany
According to the SMNK research work, since 2014 the "false widows" species Steatoda nobilis has
"appeared to colonize the outer walls of buildings and bushes in the parking lot"
at the first garden center in Cologne .
At the second garden center, the researchers found the animals
"on outdoor shelves and on an outside wall with common ivy
. "
However, it is not known whether these are permanent settlements.
The researchers also found individual noble orb spiders - but no established populations - elsewhere in Germany:
2013 in a garden center in Balingen
2013 in a garden center in Brandenburg
2013 in a flower wholesaler in Berlin
2018 on the wall of a garden center in Stuttgart
At the moment, the noble orb spiders, known as “false widows”, only appear in Germany in the immediate vicinity of garden centers.
Unlike Ireland and Great Britain.
NUI expert Dr.
Michel Dugon explains to
echo24.de
: "In our country, they appear to only occur in urban and suburban habitats and are completely absent in natural habitats such as forests, moors or coastal cliffs." An encounter with people is therefore inevitable.
Especially as they "venture to the warmth of the sleeping and living areas"
during the colder months, according to falsewidowspiderireland.ie
.
In Ireland, 88 percent of “false widows” become victims in bed or while getting dressed because the non-aggressive eight-legged friends defend themselves against possible crushing.
Could this also happen in Germany in the foreseeable future?
dr
Michel Dugon refers to the SMNK researchers: "The authors have modeled where Steatoda nobilis could become established in the future, and a large part of western and northern Germany appears to offer suitable climatic conditions or habitats."
This is what makes the bite of the "false widow" Steatoda nobilis so dangerous
It's not the paralyzing neurotoxin alpha-latrotoxin (66 percent as potent as that of real widows -- the redback spider, for example) that makes the bite of noble orb spiders so dangerous to humans, but the bacterial cocktail on their mandibles.
The Irish NUI researchers led by Dr.
Find Michel Dugon.
And of those, twelve are potentially pathogenic to humans.
Some of them are multi-resistant, making them very difficult to treat with regular medication.
In addition, most doctors in Europe still know too little about invasive poisonous spiders, their bites and how to treat them.
List of rubrics: © Rainer Breitling
