What Kind of Spiders Are Poisonous in Arizona?

There are three species of poisonous spiders in Arizona: the black widow, brown recluse and tarantula. While the widow and recluse are capable of inflicting serious damage to any individual they bite, the tarantula bite is only rarely truly threatening.

Warning

The female black widow spider is venomous, while the male is not. The toxin it injects is about 15 times stronger than the venom of a typical prairie rattlesnake, according to the Desert USA website.more toxic

Black Widow Bites

Despite its powerful venom the black widow rarely injects enough into a bite to prove deadly to a person. Symptoms such as headache, nausea, dizziness, abdominal pain and muscle cramps can accompany a black widow bite.

Brown Recluse

The Arizona brown spider is a subspecies of the brown recluse. It is a shy spider, preferring to frequent places like closets and storerooms.

Brown Recluse Bite

The initial bite of a brown recluse spider is often painless, but the venom it possesses is a necrotoxin. It has the ability to destroy or severely damage tissue cells, sometimes causing large wounds that require many weeks to fully heal.

Tarantula

The tarantula is a large hairy spider that lives in the desert regions of Arizona. Despite popular belief, the venom of a tarantula is mild and will not precipitate a fatal reaction, except in the rare instance that an individual has an allergic reaction to it, much like a bee sting could cause in those who are allergic.

References

• Insects and Spiders:Desert USA