The Great Black Widow Migration: Black Widow spiders, perhaps the most famous eight-legged killers after hairy Tarantulas, are
turning up in the most surprising places.
The venom of the Black Widow is a is a neurotoxin which affects the nerves. A bite causes physiological effects such as accelerated heartbeat, increased blood pressure, temporary paralysis and can be lethal when the muscles used to breath become paralyzed.
We need to correct an error in the story, however. A character named Jerry Fauske, an entymologist at North Dakota State University, implies that it is surprising to find the spiders in North Dakota because "[u]sually, you have to be away from civilization to find them."
This is a non-sequitur because North Dakota is far away from civilization. [Ed. We apologize for that remark. We're about science here, not snark and snobbery. This sort of thing belongs over at our sister website
Manhattan Transfer.]
