Study Finds Black Widow Spiders Reluctant to Bite Unless Threatened
Posted on March 2, 2014
Popular Science reports on a black widow study by researchers at Loma Linda University in California. The researchers were trying to determined what it would take to get a black widow spider to bite and release its toxic venom. The tests were conducted on the western black widow species, Latrodectus hesperus.
Three different tests were conducted. In the first two tests researchers gave the spiders a little nudge and in the second test the researchers poked the spiders every second for one whole minute. The spiders backed away but did not bite in both tests. Wired says that sometimes during the constant poking test the spiders retaliated by flicking silk bombs at the attacker. The third test involved pinching the spiders between gelatin fingers attached to spatulas. The spiders did not like this test and responded by biting. The spiders delivered the most venom when their thoraxes or abdomens were being squeezed.
The research was published here in the journal, Animal Behavior.