Steven Trewick: Massey University evolutionary ecology professor on the noble false widow spiders spreading through NZ

An invasive spider with a nasty bite is spreading its population across New Zealand - prompting warnings from experts.

The noble false widow spider has been spotted in Christchurch, Nelson, Northland and Waikato.

Massey University evolutionary ecology professor, Steven Trewick, says their bite is unlikely to kill you - but it's harmful if left untreated.

"Like most spiders, they're not going to bite you because they're not interested in you...but they do have some toxins that are similar to the toxins black widows and redbacks have."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Killer do for ce Allen hither. You can still buy
the jaffers through House of Fine Foods, but they are
a bulk one kg bag and they're called orange chocolate
balls and you will absolutely need your shot of Wigov
after that. Nineteen past five. Listen, don't panic, but there
are some dangerous spiders that have invaded New Zealand. Noble
false widow spiders spotted and put it to her last year.

(00:23):
Now they're in christ Church, Nelson, Northland and White Cuttle.
Professor Stephen Truick is an evolutionary ecologist at Massi University High.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Stephen, Hello, Hello.

Speaker 1 (00:31):
If they bite you, do you die?

Speaker 2 (00:36):
Possibly? Very unlikely? A worst can I his scenario. I'll
give you the worst case scenario. You're liking around in
your backyard. You nick yourself, or you think you've nicked
yourself on something. You're reaching for that cricket ball behind
the fence, you know, the usual thing. You're paying you
no attention of it. You don't know you've been bidden
by a spider, but you get an action where the

(01:01):
bite was, but you still don't know it was a spider.
You eventually decide I've got to go to the doctors.
Even though I have to wait and pay and all
the rest of it, and they say, well, dear, you
know you've got an infectual and give you some antibiotics.
The antibiotics don't work. You get an open ulcer, you
get awa ane and said around for six hours whatever
it is, and get looked at. And then they starting

(01:25):
to find other solutions because well, alternative antibiotics. So the
thing is that like most spiders, they're not going to
bite you because they're not interested in you. But this
one they do have some toxins that are similar to
the toxins that black widows and red backs have their predators.

(01:47):
After all, that's what they use their toxins for. They
bite little little things. I don't know whether it you know,
you can feel anything when one of these spider biders
bites you. There's not been reports of excruciating pain. You
probably have a bit of a niggle, but much more
likely you don't recognize it at the time. And that's

(02:08):
in a way the problem, because if you do get
an infection from the bacteria associated with this spider, then
it's difficult for people to track or how did you
get this, where's it come from? What's going on.

Speaker 1 (02:21):
Yeah, okay, but we're not sort of like, you've got
five minutes you need to smoke your last cigarette and
you're going to fall over.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
And well you shouldn't be smoking a cigarette anyway.

Speaker 1 (02:31):
But well you've got five minutes. I don't know about you, Stephen,
but I'm probably going to smoke a cigarette. I'm going
to find you.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
What have you got time for abriate? That's right. No,
it's certainly not wherever you can manage you fabriit. No,
it's certainly not like that. The venom of these things
similar even black widows in Australia. It might be painful,
it might give you a bit of discomfort, but it's
not going to kill you. Okay. The interesting thing is

(02:59):
to follow on stuff if that happens. The infection of
my thought.

Speaker 1 (03:02):
Okay, thank you really appreciated that made me feel a
bit better. Steven appreciate it. Stephen Truick, who's an expert.
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Speaker 2 (03:12):
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