Spider positively identified by expert

The presence of button spiders in Steinmann Road recently had a resident concerned and spider lovers upset when it was identified incorrectly.

The record accidentally identified the spider as a brown button spider, which is the lesser venomous of the button spider family. In order to correct the mistake, the record spoke to South African spider expert and local resident Astri Leroy of the Spider Club.

According to Astri the spider in question is a false house button spider, which is in the same family as the true button spiders, Theridiidae, but a different genus.

The complete scientific name for this spider is Theridion purcelli.

“It is not one of the button spiders with the genus Latrodectus. There are 14 species of Theridion known from South Africa but this is the most common and widespread. They are much smaller than button spiders, frequently found in houses and seem to love eating black ants, so I reckon that if you don’t mind their webs they are good to have around,” says Leroy.

“For the record there are no reliable medical records of anyone dying as a direct result of a spider bite in South Africa for many decades, for approximately the past 80 years. Button spider bites allegedly are not particularly painful. Over the years we have had a few incidents of people having been bitten by one of the four species of black button spiders in the country. None resulted in cases as dire as the description you gave, which are the worst case scenarios and borders on the dramatic,” Leroy furthermore explains.

“Button spider bites to humans are really rare and dogs and cats are even less likely to get bitten as button spiders are too small to bite through their fur.”