poisonous spiders canada
Posted by nick goodwin on October 24, 2005
Q: Are there any poisonous spiders on the east coast of canada. I have heard the black widow is present in British Columbia and i wondered if this was country wide.
A: Actually, there are 3 different species of Black Widows in North America. These three widow spiders are the Southern Black Widow Latrodectus mactans, the Western Black Widow L. hesperus , and the Northern Widow L. variolus. The species that you have in Canada is the Norhtern Widow which is rather common in British Columbia but found in eastern Canada too. Although the bite is quite potent, these spider are really very shy and their first line of defense is to flee.
Thanks for asking.
John Wiessinger ( October 24, 2005)
Filed under: Creepy-Crawlies