I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to work in one of the lab environments at the Museum of Natural History in our nation’s capital. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I make the commute from my home in Arlington to the entomology department and the Arachnology offices. Arachnophobes beware: I handle all kinds of preserved (dead) spiders from all parts of the world, but my boss has me focusing on those gathered from the Great Smokey Mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee. I’ve examined, sorted, and re-vialed hundreds of specimens, all of which have their own anatomical intricacies, and I see the typed up names when I sleep. In fact, some of the species I’ve examined are smaller than the head of a pin, so it’s likely that I have actually breathed in spiders; I actually breathe spiders!
That probably sounds more terrifying to some of you than I think it could ever be, but I do love my new job. Getting paid would be the icing on the cake, but I’m fine with just acquiring experience in my “budding entomologist” state. Even with all the filing and sorting I do, there’s a fair amount of learning that happens each day, and I wanted to share a bit of what I’ve learned about one of the most beneficial arthropods on the planet.
The first thing you might not know is that spiders aren’t insects, they’re arachnids. Insects have three major body sections, whereas spiders, scorpions, and some mites, have only two. The front part that holds most of the major organs and that the legs are attached to is the cephalothorax, and the back part, the “butt” of the spider with the spinnerets, is the abdomen. The eight legs of a spider are made up of seven different parts, and many are identified by the types of hairs and spines and their individual lengths. On the end of their legs, one can find claws, the number of which is another big step in the taxonomic identification that I do.
Aside from the spinnerets and comb-like legs of some species, most people know and hurry away from spiders because of their fangs. In my area of Virginia residence, the only two anyone should have any worry about is the black widow, and the brown recluse. The black widow, which is my personal favorite spider, has a strong venom hiding within those teeny tiny fangs, and can be identified by its glossy, black body embellished with a red hourglass on its abdomen. This, however, is only for the females of the species. The males are much, much smaller, and their venom is not something to worry about. In all seriousness, the bite of a black widow is something that most people recover from. The human immune system proves resilient when the venom is in the body, as some people chalk it up to be nothing more than a more painful bee sting. In the case of small children and the elderly, however, things can be much more serious, but that’s true for all more potent spiders. Most of the time, those fatal cases are caused by a general allergy to spider bites that is compounded by the complexity of the venom’s protein structure.
Moving onto the brown recluse, this is one spider that I could never be convinced to handle. This spider can be identified by its size, which is only a bit larger than a penny, its brown coloring, and the mark it has on its cephalothorax that looks like a violin or fiddle. They like hiding in the folds of linens, such as sheets or towels, in dark spaces, so always shake out your blankets before you use them! Their venom has an enzyme that begins the process of necrosis, or rotting. There is no anti-venom, and the damage done by the bite is different in every case. The best thing to do is to keep washing the bite with soap and water, keeping it well irrigated and hopefully rinsing the enzyme out.
More likely than not, the spiders that you'll see in your house (in the NoVA area) will be wolf spiders. These guys are not like normal spiders, in the sense that they don't sit around in webs waiting for their prey. They go hunting, like the wolves that they are named for, searching all the dark corners of your basements and pantries for those pest insects such as ants, flies, and cockroaches. You're more likely to be bitten by one of these this summer than the other two nasty ones I've mentioned, but again, you shouldn't be too worried unless you have an allergy to spider venom. In fact, the pain from a wolf spider bite is not caused by the venom, but actually by the mechanical trauma caused by the spider's fangs. Wolf spider bites are no longer treated with an administration of anti-venom due to the weakness of their venom.
This guy happens to have that special ratio of daring and dumb to handle both the recluse and the black widow on the same hand!
Other dangerous and odd spider species that you can look up are the Brazilian wandering spider, the Sydney funnel web spider, and the African cave spider, or whip scorpion. If you’ve seen the fourth Harry Potter movie, you may recall the scene where Mad-Eye Moody shows his students the three unforgivable curses. That thing that he moves through the air? It’s not some terrifying creature from the depths of J.K. Rowling’s mind: it’s real, but they’re actually quite docile. Some other enthusiasts actually attest that they make excellent pets!
If you’ve made it this far, congratulations! You’re set if a question on Jeopardy happens to be about general knowledge of spiders. I could sit and talk about them all day, which is why I’m so happy looking at different specimens for hours and hours. The commute is draining on the spirit and the wallet, but it’s a price I’ve been happy to pay for the past three weeks. I love working at the Museum of Natural History, and landing a career in this field is something I’m working and studying as hard as I can for. Most kids grow out of liking bugs, but for me, it is quite the opposite.
