page_title: List of venomous animals
section_title: Spiders
hierarchical_section_title: List of venomous animals / Invertebrates / Arachnids / Spiders
caption_attribution_description: English: Pregnant(Gravid) Adult Female L. mactans showing red hourglass shape on ventral side of abdomen. Captured in Knightdale, NC.
context_page_description: Numerous animal species naturally produce chemical toxins which are used to kill or incapacitate prey or as a defense against predators. Venomous animals deliver these toxins as venom through a bite, sting, or other specially evolved mechanism. Poisonous animals, on the other hand, contain or secrete toxins and do not actively deliver them. This list deals exclusively with the former.
  Venoms have evolved to serve a wide variety of purposes. Their intended effects can range from mild fleeting discomfort to paralysis and death, and they may be highly selective in which species they target, often making them harmless to all but a few specific co-evolved organisms; what may be fatal to one species may be totally insignificant to another species. Because the definition of "venomous" can be extremely broad, this list includes only those animals with venom that is known or suspected to be medically significant for humans or domestic animals.
context_section_description: Australian funnel-web spiders (Atrax and Hadronyche spp.)
  Brazilian wandering spiders (Phoneutria fera and Phoneutria nigriventer)
  All widow spiders (Latrodectus spp.), including the black widows, button spiders, Australian redback spider (L. hasseltii), and the endangered katipō of New Zealand (L. katipo)
  False black widows (Steatoda spp.)
  All recluse spiders (Loxosceles spp.), including the brown recluse (L. reclusa) and Chilean recluse (L. laeta)
  Macrothele spp.
  Mouse spiders (Missulena spp.)
  Sicarius spp.
  Hexophthalma spp.
  A few species of tarantula (in addition to chelicerae, some also have urticating hairs)
caption: Latrodectus mactans, one of several venomous North American black widows
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "NIKON", "Image Model": "COOLPIX S8100", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "GIMP 2.6.8", "Image DateTime": "2011:06:06 09:38:17", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "248", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "300", "Thumbnail YResolution": "300", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/30", "EXIF FNumber": "37/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "264", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2011:05:21 01:12:41", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2011:05:21 01:12:41", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "18/5", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "71/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4000", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3000", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "5390", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "39", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "Low gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}