12:10pm Tuesday 26th May 2009
TWO more false black widows have been spotted by Swindon residents, who say the spider may have been in town for more than a decade.
The Steatoda grossa, which are in the same family as the lethal black widow, and have put people in hospital in the past, were first trapped by Justin Holloway, a Swindon exterminator, only days before they were featured in the Advertiser on May 15.
Mr Holloway, a field biologist for Prokill pest control, said that he was astonished by the find because the spider had been contained in Devon for the past 200 years. He said recent milder winters had allowed the spider to survive.
However soon after publishing the story two residents contacted the paper in order to alert the public that the find is not a one-off.
Terry Dabner, who lives just off Frobisher Drive, Walcot, said his wife called him into the couple’s kitchen after spotting a spider on the floor by the sink last week.
The Wiltshire Butterfly Conservation employee said: “The first thing my wife said was that it resembled a black widow.
“As I work for the WBC I took a photo of it, then went on the internet to ID it.
“It was a female Steatoda grossa.
“Apparently they were first found in Wroughton in the 90s.
“She is enjoying the rest of her life in our garden, not in the house hopefully.”
Meanwhile, Callie Neil said an entire family of false black widows had been living in her pond filter for the past four years.
In the past the arachnid has inflicted grave wounds on victims but their bite is not lethal.
© Copyright 2001-2012 Newsquest Media Group
http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/trade_directory/