Redback spider

Redback spider
	Adult red back spider
	Adult male (considerably smaller than female)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Araneae
Family:	Theridiidae
Genus:	Latrodectus
Species:	L. hasseltii
Binomial name
	Latrodectus hasseltii; Thorell, 1870
Synonyms
	Latrodectus scelio Thorell, 1870; Latrodectus scelio indicus Simon, 1897; Latrodectus indicus Pocock, 1900; Latrodectus hasselti indicus Pickard-Cambridge, 1902; Latrodectus ancorifer Dahl, 1902; Latrodectus hasselti aruensis Strand, 1911; Latrodectus hasselti ancorifer Kulczyński, 1911; Latrodectus cinctus [rejected] Gerschman & Schiapelli, 1942; Latrodectus mactans hasselti Chrysanthus, 1975;

The redback spider is a venomous spider that lives in Australia. The female is larger than the male. The female's body is about 1 centimetre long and the male's body is about 3 millimetres long. The adult female spider is usually black and usually has a red stripe on its back. The female likes to live in warm sheltered places and makes a web to catch insects and other small creatures.^[2]

The spider's bite can be very painful and dangerous to people, because it can inject a venom through its fangs. An antivenom injection is available, which can help to restore the health of people who have become very ill after being bitten by the spider.

Redback Spider Media

A juvenile female, showing typical white banding
Redback spider underside
Female with a lizard it has captured
Baby Latrodectus hasselti (Redback spiders) photographed in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales.
Female (right) with egg sac, note the male at left (circled)
A distribution map of the records of redback spider specimens reported to the Atlas of Living Australia as of September 2013.
The distinctive red stripe of the adult female
An antibody digested by pepsin yields two fragments: a F(ab')2 fragment and a pFc' fragment. Redback spider antivenom contains purified F(ab')2 derived from IgG in hyperimmune horse plasma.

References

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 "Taxon details Latrodectus haseltii Thorell, 1870". World Spider Catalog. Natural History Museum Bern. Retrieved 22 May 2016.
↑ Garb, Jessica E.; González, Alda; Gillespie, Rosemary G. (June 2004). "The Black Widow Spider Genus Latrodectus (Araneae: Theridiidae): Phylogeny, Biogeography, and Invasion History" (PDF). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 31 (3): 1127–42. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2003.10.012. PMID 15120405.

[WSC_s39048-1] 1.0 ^1.1 "Taxon details Latrodectus haseltii Thorell, 1870". World Spider Catalog. Natural History Museum Bern. Retrieved 22 May 2016.

[garb_2004-2] Garb, Jessica E.; González, Alda; Gillespie, Rosemary G. (June 2004). "The Black Widow Spider Genus Latrodectus (Araneae: Theridiidae): Phylogeny, Biogeography, and Invasion History" (PDF). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 31 (3): 1127–42. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2003.10.012. PMID 15120405.

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