Cheiracanthium inclusum
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| Cheiracanthium inclusum | ||||||||||||||
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| Cheiracanthium inclusum (Hentz, 1847) |
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Clubiona inclusa |
Cheiracanthium inclusum, alternately known as the yellow sac spider or black-footed spider, was formerly classified as a true sac spider (of the family Clubionidae), but belongs now to the long-legged sac spiders (family Miturgidae). It is one of a handful of spiders in North America whose bites are generally considered to be medically significant. The related species Cheiracanthium mildei is very similar and is often confused and called by the same vernacular names.
It is a rather small pale yellow spider, found in most of North, Central and South America. However, it is also found in Africa and Réunion[1]. It takes shelter in flattened silk tubes during the day and moves about to hunt during the night. It often lives in houses and can frequently be found crawling upon walls or other vertical surfaces.
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[edit] Medical significance
The bite of these spiders is believed to be venomous to humans but rarely produces more than local symptoms. They are believed to produce a high percentage of the spider bites suffered by people, possibly because they wander about when people cannot see well or are asleep, and so they may get squeezed and bite to protect themselves. Bites that occur to farm laborers may occur because spiders hiding in their shelters on leaves may get squeezed.
It has been noted that a large number of bites attributed to the brown recluse spider may actually be the result of yellow sac spider bites, which possess a cytotoxic venom known to contain several proteolytic enzymes including alkaline phosphatase, deoxyribonuclease, esterase, hyaluronidase, lipase, and ribonuclease.[2] These enzymes can cause localized tissue necrosis (which may be similar to that caused by a recluse bite), though the symptoms are less severe and do not result in the systemic effects occasionally seen with recluse envenomations.
However, the view that this spider is dangerous to humans has been questioned. A recent study of 20 confirmed yellow sac spider bites revealed no evidence of necrosis; further review of international literature on confirmed bites revealed only a single bite with mild necrotic symptoms.[3]
[edit] Footnotes
[edit] References
- Diaz, James H. (2004): The global epidemiology, syndromic classification, management, and prevention of spider bites. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 71(2): 239-250. PDF
- Vetter, Richard S.; Ibister, Geoffrey K.; Bush, Sean P. & Boutin, Lisa J. (2006): Verified bites by yellow sac spiders (genus Cheiracanthium) in the United States and Australia: Where is the necrosis? American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 74(6): 1043-1048. Abstract
- Platnick, Norman I. (2007): The world spider catalog, version 8.0. American Museum of Natural History.
[edit] External links
- Photo
- Pictures of C. inclusum (free for noncommercial use)
- U Arkansas - Arthropod Museum Notes by Jeffrey K. Barnes
- Maan, Noura. "Spider invasion creeping out Austrians", Associated Press (via LiveScience), 3 August 2006. Retrieved on 2007-01-04.
