Poisonous hunting spider is spreading in Baden-Württemberg – up to eight centimeters in size

Created: 08/05/2022, 17:42

By: Jason Blaschke

The hunting spider (Nosferatu spider), which can be up to eight centimeters in size, has now also been detected in Pforzheim for the first time and is known in the Karlsruhe area.

Karlsruhe/Pforzheim – If you go on holiday in Germany and Europe in the summer, you can increasingly come across poisonous animals that can be dangerous for people.

Although most poisonous animals in Germany and Europe are not deadly, their bites or contact with them can cause severe pain.

More severe symptoms such as breathing problems are also possible, which primarily – but not only – affects allergy sufferers.

Nosferatu spider in Karlsruhe and Pforzheim: animal hunts like a vampire

Box jellyfish and various species of fish in exotic waters are at the top of the list of the most dangerous animals in the world.

Their venoms are also deadly to humans.

In Germany and Europe it is primarily snakes and spiders that have to be observed in nature.

In Karlsruhe and Pforzheim, a species of spider was scientifically proven that was originally native to the Mediterranean region and was brought unnoticed by people, experts suspect.

The brown Nosferatu spider, which can be up to eight centimeters in size, owes its name to the strange drawing on its back, which with a little imagination looks like the image of a vampire - for the background, in the silent film Nosferatu (from 1922), the protagonist is called a vampire, Nosferatu.

Similar to the mythical night figure, the Nosferatu spider is a hunter and is therefore also known as the hunting spider (zoropsis spinimana), as reported

.

Poisonous spider in Baden-Württemberg – people should avoid contact

And the spider seen in Pforzheim and Karlsruhe shares another thing in common with Dracula: it is mostly out at night and "attacks its prey and overwhelms it," reports

.

Their bite is venomous and fatal to their victims.

The Nosferatu poison is less dangerous for humans, those affected compare a bite with a wasp sting.

The pain that occurs is usually weaker than the symptoms after a wasp attack, according to the

report.

In contrast to a wasp sting, a hunting spider bite can cause skin reddening or swelling, which in some cases lasts for days.

The Karlsruhe Natural History Museum, which also specializes in spiders, therefore recommends not seeking direct contact with the Nosferatu.

Incidentally, the hunting spider sighted in Pforzheim and Karlsruhe is not the only one of its kind to make headlines in Baden-Württemberg.

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Not just Nosferatu spiders: Invasive species are conquering Baden-Württemberg

Their fellow species, the banana spider, which can be up to ten centimeters in size, was flown to Baden-Württemberg as a stowaway in banana crates.

The shock was great when a Lidl customer discovered the poisonous spider.

It was the fire brigade who had to hunt the animal and accidentally killed it.

Unlike the Nosferatu, banana spiders are isolated cases in Germany, but other spider species have long since found their home in the southwest.

The noble orb spider from the Canary Islands, for example, was discovered in Baden-Württemberg at the end of 2021.

And the population of the Nurse Thornfinger spider, which is poisonous like the Nosferatu and banana spiders, has also grown in Baden-Württemberg.

However, the spiders aren't the only creatures that have made their home in the Southwest.

Four exotic mosquito species make Baden-Württemberg unsafe, including the "deadliest animal in the world", the tiger mosquito.

Spiders, mosquitoes and quagga shells: climate change noticeable in the southwest

The invasive quagga mussel in Lake Constance is not poisonous, but no less dangerous, causing many injuries in the current bathing season alone.

According to experts, one of the main reasons why more and more invasive species are appearing in Baden-Württemberg is climate change.

It doesn't get that cold in winter, so exotic species can also hibernate in this country.

And even in summer there are the best conditions for the animals, which, once they are there, are difficult to eradicate.