Point of View
Posted by cambell on March 7, 2005
Q: what species of spider has wounded or killed the most humans?
A: This is a difficult one if we look at spiders from all over the world but I can answer this for North America. In North America there are only two species, the Brown Recluse and the Black Widow, that have been known to cause death in humans. Apparently their venom is quite potent and some people, not everyone, are especially allergic to the venom and it may cause death. The number of deaths, due to spiders is extremely small and certainly no cause for widespread killing of spiders.
John Wiessinger ( March 8, 2005)
Filed under: Creepy-Crawlies