page_title: List of medically significant spider bites
section_title: False black widows
hierarchical_section_title: List of medically significant spider bites / Tangle-web spiders / False black widows
caption_attribution_description: English: This image shows a female Steatoda spec. spider. Thanks to Kim for identifying the genus of this animal. Deutsch: Dieses Bild zeigt eine weibliche Fettspinne (Steatoda spec.). Italiano: Femmina di Steatoda spec.. Grazie a Kim per l'identificazione del genere. Camera data Camera Nikon D70 Lens Tamron SP AF 90mm/2.8 Di Macro 1:1 Focal length 90 mm Aperture f/16 Exposure time 1/60 s Sensivity ISO 200
context_page_description: A number of spiders can cause spider bites that are medically important. Almost all spiders produce venom but only a few are classified as "venomous" and able to cause significant harm to humans. Two medically important spider genera have a worldwide distribution—Latrodectus and Loxosceles. Others have a limited distribution.
  Medical reports have been criticized for poor evidence. In the last century, both white tailed and wolf spiders were considered medically significant, only to be recanted. Only eight genera are considered medically significant. Bites of these spiders have a range of severity, with only a minority having severe symptoms. Deaths by verified spider bites are exceedingly rare.
context_section_description: The false black widow spiders (also known as false katipo, false button spider, cupboard spider, and in Australia, brown house spider) are spiders of the genus Steatoda. They resemble widow spiders in size and physical form, due to being members of the same family. While the bite of Steatoda spiders are never as serious as can be for true widow spiders, several have been often reported to give general symptoms away from the bite site, indicating the action of venom. The bite of Steatoda grossa may cause nausea, widespread but short lived pain, muscle spasms, and malaise; the medical community now refers to the symptoms of Steatoda bites as steatodism. Other spiders in this genus with potentially symptomic venom include two chiefly European varieties, S. paykulliana and S. nobilis, and a species found mainly in New Zealand and South Africa, S. capensis.
  Use of widow spider antivenom has been shown effective in treating steatodism. The genera Steatoda and Latrodectus are biologically close relatives; both belonging to the same family Theridiidae. There are over 100 species in this genus Steatoda, but only some species have been associated with symptomatic bites, and many alleged reports have not been confirmed as actual bites (actual bite event not seen, etc.) nor can be directly attributed to certain species (no specimen collected and examined by an arachnologist, etc.).
  Members of this genus are characterized by the "D" shape of the cephalothorax, and the way the relatively straight line thus formed is mirrored by the blunt forward surface of the abdomen. Other genera in this family generally have cephalothoraxes that are more oval in shape or even rather round, and that give the appearance of two body parts that are joined by a small connector.
caption: Steatoda bipunctata
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