Railroaders place to shoot the shit.

The Krink · The Forum Celestial Advisor

Alaska girl finds wandering spider in banana bunch

Thunderwagon5000 · Barely a pulse...

Exactly right, Krink. The out of place arachnid story while interesting, hardly rates as international news.

This fact can be found in the link to the write up on the not big deal.

" Such spiders are known to infiltrate shipments of fruit, most often bananas,

from time to time, ending up in grocery stores across the world."

I have heard of large spiders including black widows delivered to sub arctic grocery wholesalers

of Northern Canada numerous times as well, Always in bananas. They ususally don't make it to the shelf

because the warehouse workers will take them home for pets, kill them, or kindly

donate them to a school.

-- Edited by Thunderwagon5000 on Monday 22nd of April 2013 02:22:18 PM

Pipes FC · Enemy of the State

Toxicity

P. fera and P. nigriventer are widely considered the most venomous species of spider.^[2]^[3] Its venom contains a potent neurotoxin, known as PhTx3, which acts as a broad-spectrum calcium channel blocker that inhibits glutamate release, calcium uptake and also glutamate uptake in neural synapses. At deadly concentrations, this neurotoxin causes loss of muscle control and breathing problems, resulting in paralysis and eventual asphyxiation. In addition, the venom causes intense pain and inflammation following a bite due to an excitatory effect the venom has on the serotonin 5-HT4 receptors of sensory nerves. This sensory nerve stimulation causes a release of neuropeptides such as substance P which triggers inflammation and pain.^[11]

Aside from causing intense pain, the venom of the spider can also cause priapism in humans. Erections resulting from the bite are uncomfortable, can last for many hours and can lead to impotence. A component of the venom (Tx2-6) is being studied for use in erectile dysfunction treatments.^[12]^[13]^[14]

The amount of P. nigriventer venom necessary to kill a 20 g mouse has been shown to be only 6 g intravenously and 134 g subcutaneously as compared to 110 g and 200 g respectively for Latrodectus mactans (Southern black widow). This ranks Phoneutria venom among the most deadly spider venoms to mice.^[15]