Reb-Back Spider Research

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Spiders are air-breathing chelicerate arthropods that have two body segments, eight legs, and no chewing mouth parts. About 40,000 species have been identified. In spiders' bodies the usual arthropod segments are fused into two tagmata, the cephalothorax and abdomen, joined by a small, cylindrical pedicel. Redback spider The Redback spider is a potentially dangerous spider which lives in Australia. It resembles a Black widow spider. It is a member of the genus Latrodectus or the widow family of spiders, which are found throughout the world. The female is easily recognizable by its black body with prominent red stripe on its abdomen. Females have a body length of about a centimetre while the male is smaller, being only 3 to 4 millimetres long. Redbacks are considered one of the most dangerous spiders in Australia. The Redback spider has neurotoxic venom which is toxic to humans with bites causing severe pain. There is antivenom for Redback bites which is commercially available. The female Redback has a round body about the size of large pea (1 centimetre long), with long, slender legs. The body is a deep black colour (occasionally brownish), often containing an obvious orange to red longitudinal stripe on the upper abdomen. The stripe is sometimes broken or looks like small red dots. On the underside of the abdomen there is an "hourglass" shaped red/orange spot. Juvenile spiders have additional white markings on the abdomen. The male Redback is three to four millimetres long and is light brown in colour with white markings on the upper side of the abdomen and a pale hour-glass marking on the underside. The Redback web is a disorganized, irregular tangle of fine but strong silk. The rear portion of the web forms a funnel-like retreat area where the spider and egg sacs are found. This area has vertical, sticky catching threads that run to ground attachments. Redbacks

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