June 22, 2009

Itsy bitsy spidey

Perhaps you’ve heard the recent news about the brown widow moving in on black widow territory in Southern California and all the talk about it being super-deadly. The Department of Entomology at UCRiverside says be not afraid.

The brown widow was discovered here in 2003 in all the usual places like wood piles, stacked pots and under rocks. But the report says the spider is “not dangerous, nor deadly.” A bite hurts a little and leaves a mark, but not much more.

More toxic is our black widow. “The native black widow is still the major spider of medical importance in Southern California, always has been and always will be.”

Maybe our resident bug enthusiast Vanessa Cardui at Am I Bugging you Yet? will pipe in with comments. Vanessa, you there?

speaking of spideys

Take a peek at the “bugwear” by Laura Zindel at Blackbird.com. If bugs are your best friends you might like the beetle coffee mugs, saw fly espresso or cave spider cup and saucer set. I repeat, might.

whatever

Independent.uk—It turns out that plants DO talk, at least to each other. Do we owe Prince Charles an apology?

More from the Two, four and eight-legged files.