Phoneutria fera

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Phoneutria fera
Wandering Spider (Phoneutria fera) (10623228224).jpg
P. fera from French Guiana
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Infraorder: Araneomorphae
Family: Ctenidae
Genus: Phoneutria
Species:
P. fera
Binomial name
Phoneutria fera
Perty, 1833 [1]
Synonyms [1]
  • Ctenus ferus(Perty, 1833)
  • Ctenus susStrand, 1909

Phoneutria fera is a species of spider with medically significant venom in the family Ctenidae found in South America (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Suriname, and Guyana). [1] It is commonly known as the Brazilian wandering spider and the banana spider, [2] although these names are applied to other species in the genus Phoneutria , particularly Phoneutria nigriventer . [3] [2] P. fera tends to spend a larger amount of time in vegetation during the early period of its life and spends more time on the ground once it becomes larger. This is more common in females, since they are usually larger than males. [4] [5] Medical records from within the geographic range of P. fera show bites (likely from P. fera or its close relative P. reidyi), have the potential to develop moderate to severe systematic reactions in humans. [6]

Taxonomy

The name Phoneutria fera meaning “murderess, wild animal” is of both Greek and Latin origin. The genus Phoneutria derives from the Greek φονεύτρια, meaning "murderess", [7] and the species fera which is derived from the Latin term “ferus” (also written as “feros”) meaning “wild animal”. [8] The species P. fera is native to the northern portion of South America in the Amazon of Brazil, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru and the Guyanas.

Related Research Articles

<i>Phoneutria</i> Genus of spiders

Phoneutria is a genus of spiders in the family Ctenidae. They are mainly found in northern South America, with one species in Central America. Members of the genus are commonly referred to as Brazilian wandering spiders. Other English names include armed spiders and banana spiders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australian funnel-web spider</span> Family of mygalomorph spiders

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wandering spider</span> Family of spiders

Wandering spiders (Ctenidae) are a family of spiders that includes the Brazilian wandering spiders. These spiders have a distinctive longitudinal groove on the top-rear of their oval carapace similar to those of the Amaurobiidae. They are highly defensive and venomous nocturnal hunters. Wandering spiders are known to hunt large prey, for example hylid species Dendropsophus branneri. Despite their notoriety for being dangerous, only a few members of Phoneutria have venom known to be hazardous to humans, but the venoms of this family are poorly known, so all larger ctenids should be treated with caution.

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Phoneutria bahiensis is a species of spiders in the family Ctenidae, found in Brazil. It's known in Brazilian Portuguese as Armadeira da Bahia,.

<i>Phoneutria boliviensis</i> Species of spider

Phoneutria boliviensis is a species of a medically important spider in the family Ctenidae found in Central and South America.

<i>Phoneutria nigriventer</i> Species of arachnid

Phoneutria nigriventer is a species of medically significant spider in the family Ctenidae, found in the Southern Cone of South America. Along with other members of the genus, they are often referred to as Brazilian wandering spiders.

Phoneutria reidyi is a species of venomous spiders in the family Ctenidae, found in South America.

<i>Ancylometes</i> Genus of spiders

Ancylometes is a genus of Central and South American semiaquatic wandering spiders first described by Philipp Bertkau in 1880. Originally placed with the nursery web spiders, it was moved to the Ctenidae in 1967. The genus name is derived in part from Ancient Greek "ἀγκύλος", meaning "crooked, bent".

Tx2-6 is a toxin found in the venom of the Brazilian wandering spider, Phoneutria nigriventer(Keyserling). It is a peptide of 48 residues, molecular weight 5291.3. This peptide is cleaved from a longer precursor with a signal peptide and a glutamine-rich propeptide. It can cause priapism. Tests on rats indicate that the toxin causes nitric oxide release, and its effect on erection is blocked by the nitric oxide synthase inhibitor L-NAME. However, it fully restored erectile function in rats developing hypertension due to injection of deoxycorticosterone acetate. A study is underway at the Medical College of Georgia looking at possible uses for the chemical in erectile dysfunction medication. Scientists and Gregory Ochs are collaborating on this study.

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Phoneutria keyserlingi is a species of spiders in the family Ctenidae, found in Brazil.

<i>Cupiennius</i> Genus of spiders

Cupiennius, known by the common name bromeliad spiders or as the often confused name banana spiders, is a genus of araneomorph spiders in the family Trechaleidae, named by Eugène Simon in 1891. They are found from Mexico to northwestern South America, and on some Caribbean islands. Unlike the dangerously venomous Phoneutria, bites from these spiders typically have only minor effects on humans, and have been compared to a bee sting.

Venom optimization hypothesis, also known as venom metering, is a biological hypothesis which postulates that venomous animals have physiological control over their production and use of venoms. It explains the economic use of venom because venom is a metabolically expensive product, and that there is a biological mechanism for controlling their specific use. The hypothetical concept was proposed by Esther Wigger, Lucia Kuhn-Nentwig, and Wolfgang Nentwig of the Zoological Institute at the University of Bern, Switzerland, in 2002.

Ctenus captiosus, known generally as the Florida false wolf spider or tropical wolf spider, is a species of wandering spider in the family Ctenidae. It is found in the United States., and is one of two species of Ctenidae occurring in Florida. Little is known about the biology of this species.

<i>Cambridgea foliata</i> Species of spider

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U7-ctenitoxin-Pn1a (or U7-CNTX-Pn1a for short) is a neurotoxin that blocks TRPV1 channels, and can exhibit analgestic effects. It is naturally found in the venom of Phoneutria nigriventer.

Phoneutria depilata is a species of spider in the family Ctenidae, found in Central America.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Taxon details Phoneutria fera Perty, 1833", World Spider Catalog, Natural History Museum Bern, retrieved 2017-04-07
  2. 1 2 "How deadly are Brazilian wandering spiders?". The Independent. 2016-09-21. Retrieved 2022-11-09.
  3. ↑ Wolfgang Bücherl; Eleanor E. Buckley (2013-09-24). Venomous Animals and Their Venoms: Venomous Invertebrates. Elsevier. pp. 237–. ISBN   978-1-4832-6289-5.
  4. ↑ Gasnier, Thierry Ray; de Azevedo, Clarissa Salette; Torres-Sanchez, Martha Patricia & Höfer, Hubert (2002), "Adult size of eight hunting spider species in Central Amazonia: temporal variations and sexual dimorphisms", Journal of Arachnology, 30 (1): 146–154, doi:10.1636/0161-8202(2002)030[0146:ASOEHS]2.0.CO;2, S2CID   73624927
  5. ↑ Torres-Sanchez, Martha Patricia & Gasnier, Thierry Ray (2010), "Patterns of Abundance, Habitat Use and Body Size Structure of Phoneutria reidyi and P. fera (Araneae: Ctenidae) in a Central Amazonian Rainforest", Journal of Arachnology, 38 (3): 433–440, doi:10.1636/P08-93.1, S2CID   55763428
  6. ↑ Sampaio, V.S.; Gomes, A.A.; Silva, I.M.; Sachett, J.; Ferreira, L.C.; Oliveira, S.; Sabidò, M.; Chalkidis, H.; Barbosa Guerra, M.G.; Salinas, J.L.; Wen, F.H.; Lacerda, M.V. & Monteiro, W.M. (2016), "Low Health System Performance, Indigenous Status and Antivenom Underdosage Correlate with Spider Envenoming Severity in the Remote Brazilian Amazon", PLOS ONE, 11 (5): e0156386, Bibcode:2016PLoSO..1156386S, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0156386 , PMC   4881914 , PMID   27227455
  7. ↑ Tarbell, F. B. (October 1890). "An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon - An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon, Founded upon the Seventh Edition of Liddell and Scott's Greek-English Lexicon. Oxford, 1889". The Classical Review. 4 (8): 370–371. doi:10.1017/s0009840x00191048. ISSN   0009-840X. S2CID   163411345.
  8. ↑ Andrews, E. A. (1987) [1851]. A Copious and Critical Latin-English Lexicon, Founded on the Larger Latin-German Lexicon of Dr. William Freund; with Additions and Corrections from the Lexicons of Gesner, Facciolati, Scheller, Georges, Etc. New York (State): Harper & brothers. p. 609.


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