Do we really know them? – Part 1 – Issue #93

Hello Explorer,
during the weekend I had an exhilarating experience when I came across one of the most feared spiders in South Africa. Even though the fear for this spider is grossly exaggerated and information about the spider is limited and difficult to find, it yields the response of “Squish it” all too often.
While exploring a piece of natural savanna, I flipped over a rock and discovered the spider. I immediately knew that what I was looking at was one of the coolest discoveries I have made in a while. As I investigated the specimen, I saw that it was in a pristine condition and had perfect striking colouration, and immediately knew that I had to share it with you!
The spider is a Northern Violin Spider (Loxosceles simillima)! This species of violin spider is widespread throughout Southern Africa and is very rarely encountered. These spiders are free roaming, ground dwelling spiders that are not retreat bound. This means that they do not spin a web to catch prey, do not catch prey from their retreat, and do not return to the same retreat every time. They do, however, spin a few irregular silk strands in their retreat. They are found under rocks, logs, bark of trees, old termite galleries, abandoned mammal burrows and in caves.
The violin spiders in the region are split into two broad groups, the savanna or grassland species and the cave species. The species that come into homes regularly are the cave dweller, as houses are very similar to a cave, in the sense that it is enclosed, protected, dark, and dry, it gives the cave dwellers the ideal living conditions.
Being nocturnal ground dwelling spiders that do not use a web or retreat to catch prey items, it means that violin spiders walk around actively searching and hunting for prey. It is during these dwelling periods that the spiders often encounter people in their bed, and that is where most bites from these spiders occur. No, these spiders do not purposefully climb into your bed to come and bite you, but rather they wander around looking for prey and end up in your bed. While they are then walking around on your bed and possibly between the sheets they will ignore you fully, but as soon as you move and potentially corner or even slightly squish them, they will defend themselves by biting you. Most of the violin spider bites that occur is thus because of a misunderstanding between you and the spider.
Next week we’ll take a look into the bite, symptoms, and treatments for a violin spider.

If you would like to send me a message with your answers, feel free to do so on Instagram or Twitter @abugmanslife or via email to [email protected].