White karakurt: small spider - big problems
White karakurt is dangerous for people and animals. It looks intimidating and, due to its color, is less noticeable in habitats than its close relative, the karakurt spider, which has a black color.
Content
Description of the spider
Name: white karakurt
Latin: Latrodectus pallidusClass: Arachnida - Arachnida
Squad: Spiders - Araneae
Family: Tenetiki - Theridiidae
 | Habitats: | burrows, ravines, steppes |
 | Dangerous for: | small insects |
 | Attitude towards people: | bites but not venomous |
The belly of the White Karakurt is in the form of a ball, milky white, the head is usually brown, 4 pairs of legs can be gray or yellowish. Spider structure identical to all others.
There are no colored spots on the abdomen, but there are four small depressions arranged in the shape of a quadrangle.
The head is small, there are powerful chelicerae on it, with which the spider can bite through even the chitinous shell of the locust. Spider warts are located on the back of the body.
Like all representatives of this species, the White Karakurt has sexual dimorphism, females are much larger than males, their body length can reach 25 mm, and males - 5-8 mm.
Habitat
His place of residence is ravines, steppes, he chooses secluded, hard-to-reach places. Likes white karakurt to hide in rodent burrows and crevices between walls. He avoids open and hot places, as well as excessively wet areas.
The habitat of the White Karakurt is very extensive. It can be found:
- In the southern regions of the Russian Federation;
- North Africa;
- on the south of Ukraine;
- in Crimea;
- Turkey;
- Iran.
It lives in regions where there are no big frosts in winter.
Reproduction
White karakurt.
In the middle of summer, the female of the White Karakurt is ready for fertilization, prepares a shelter for her future offspring and weaves nets. The male flirts with the female with a kind of ritual dance, risking his own life. After the end of the mating season, the female kills the male and lays eggs, from which the young generation appears in the spring.
The spiderlings stay in the shelter for some time and eat the food that their mother has prepared for them. If there are not enough stocks, then they actively begin to eat each other. In the spring, together with the web, they scatter and begin an independent life.
Females of the White Karakurt are very prolific and can give offspring 2 times a year, under comfortable conditions.
Life
Karakurt in the car.
The white karakurt spider can hunt both during daylight hours and at night. The spider has a well-developed hearing, and it reacts sharply to extraneous noise, in order to protect itself it can attack first. The patina into which insects fall does not have any specific pattern, but resembles coiled threads stretched in grass or between stones, in holes or depressions in the ground. A spider may have several such traps.
When the victim gets into the web, the spider pierces her body in several places and injects a poisonous secret so that all the insides are digested under its action. White karakurt sucks fluid from the victim's body.
It feeds on a variety of insects caught in the web, including larger individuals such as locusts and grasshoppers. The spider can also hunt from a hiding place, attacking its prey.
Enemies of White Karakurt
For every predator, there is one predator that can destroy the animal. Under natural conditions, even the described spider has enemies:
- sphexes, a species of wasps that prey on spiders, kill them with their poison;
- riders lay their eggs in spider cocoons;
- hedgehogs, the poison of the White Karakurt is not dangerous to them, and they feed on these arthropods;
- sheep and goats, spider venom is not dangerous for them, and on pastures, agricultural animals trample the laying of eggs and the spiders themselves. Farmers use this feature, they first drive sheep and goats to pastures, and after them cattle graze there, for which spider venom is deadly.
Harm from a bite to a person
The bite of the White Karakurt is dangerous, as well as other poisonous spiders from the Black Widow family. Signs of a bite are the same as with a bite of Karakurt. With the provision of timely medical care, recovery occurs in 3-4 days.
In those places where the White Karakurt is found, it is better to walk in closed, high shoes and try not to lie on the ground.
Conclusion
The white karakurt spider differs from its relative in the color and shape of the abdomen. It feeds on insects that fall into its web. In its natural habitat, it has enemies. Its venom is highly toxic and dangerous to many animals. Cases of people dying from the poison of the White Karakurt are rare.
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