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Animal is in pants and pinches woman in the buttocks: Nosferatu spiders appeared in Murnau

2023-01-17T12:16:39.228Z


The Nosferatu spider, which was once only at home in the Mediterranean region, has reached Murnau. Zoropsis spinimana, which can bite people with its poisonous claws, appeared in apartments in Seidlpark.


The Nosferatu spider, which was once only at home in the Mediterranean region, has reached Murnau.

Zoropsis spinimana, which can bite people with its poisonous claws, appeared in apartments in Seidlpark.

Murnau

- It was probably only a matter of time before the animal appeared on the scene.

As luck would have it, the Nosferatu spider had its first public appearance in Murnau in a kind of anniversary year.

In 1922 Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau directed the silent film "Nosferatu - Eine Symphonie des Grauens", which is considered one of the first representatives of the horror genre.

100 years later, the Nosferatu spider, eight-legged, hairy and remarkably large - the body measures one to two centimeters, with legs up to five or six centimeters - caused a cultivated creep in the village.

So far around ten Nosferatu spiders have been discovered in Murnau - also in clothing

In any case, Max Metzner has been "uneasy" about the stately relatives of this species since he discovered them several times between the end of October and the end of November 2022 in his apartment at Murnau's Seidlpark and in a wooden box outdoors.

Among other things, he found a copy on one of his shirts.

Since then, before getting dressed, he shakes out every piece of clothing he takes out of the closet.

With good reason: Metzner says that a neighbor he lives next door to had a Nosferatu spider stuck in his pants without being noticed.

The woman got a bite in the butt.

Another neighbor spotted these animals on her scarf and coat.

"Everything came out of a closet," says Metzner.

So far there have been around ten finds in total at the Seidlpark.

Metzner has nothing against the eight-legged friends at home, and keeps bringing house spiders outside.

The migrant, who can even hold on to vertical panes of glass with his adhesive hair and does not catch his prey in nets, but rather pursues it and strikes it like a flash, is often confused with these longer-legged, more delicate and usually darker colored animals.

Nosferatu spider: In Murnau, probably the first find in the district

Until a few decades ago, Zoropsis spinimana, which owes its trivial name to a drawing on the front body reminiscent of the vampire skull in Murnau's horror classic, lived especially in the Mediterranean region.

It has long since made its way north, presumably benefiting from climate change;

In 2005, the neozoon was first detected in Freiburg, and initially established itself particularly along the Rhine and its tributaries.

In other regions of Germany, the spider is now "present everywhere", but the find in Murnau is "probably the first in the district," says nature expert Hans-Joachim Fünfstück, board member in the regional group of the State Association for Bird Protection.

He tends not to assume that the distribution is concentrated on just one property.

Theoretically, the Nosferatu spider could have been elsewhere in the region for a long time - then probably undetected.

Bite can cause problems in case of allergic reaction

Metzner initially thought the first specimen he saw was a house spider before he took a closer look and noticed that it was "much stronger and brighter".

He caught the animal with a glass and researched on the Internet, came into contact with five pieces.

The find: for the Garmisch-Partenkirchner "no reason to panic".

If the Zoropsis spinimana feels threatened or irritated, it can bite.

According to experience reports, however, the pain intensity reaches at most that of a light bee or wasp sting.

Swelling and redness are also possible.

"A bite is not bad," reassures Fünfstück.

"You can only have problems if you have an allergic reaction." When the spider attacks, the skin shows two small holes from the biting tools.

Caution, spider bites: Do not carry animals outside with your bare hands

Fünfstück recommends catching Nosferatu spiders in the apartment with glass and paper and carrying them outside – not with your bare hands.

He also asks for information by e-mail (fotos@5erl.de) with photos of the sightings in order to avoid confusion.

He keeps records of where and when "newcomers" are found in the animal kingdom.

Even if the bird expert sees no reason for panic, the appearance of the Nosferatu spider is just as little cause for celebration for him: "It will probably displace other species" - just as the harlequin ladybird from Asia, for example, affects the native representatives .

Max Metzner has shown signs of arachnophobia since being afflicted by Nosferatu spiders.

"It unsettles me," he says, "that there are creatures with me that don't really belong here."

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Source: merkur

All news articles on 2023-01-17

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