Emaciated redback spider found in Sydenham depot

Press, 21 April 1984, Page 1

Emaciated redback spider found in Sydenham depot

A potentially deadly redback spider was found in a Christchurch freight container on Thursday. The female spider was found at the Sydenham depot of Inter Island Express Service on Thursday morning by a storeman, Mr Kevin Mehlhopt The containers came from Sydney more than a month ago and the spider is thought to have been inside since then. Mr Mehlhopt said he found it while getting the container ready to load. He jokingly yelled out that it was a redback, but thought nothing more of it A workmate picked it up but “dropped it in a huny’ when he saw the spider’s red back. The zoology curator at Canterbury Museum, Mr Anthony Savill, said the spider was about one quar-

ter the size that it should be, which indicated it had not eaten since it had been in the container. Redbacks were “great hitchhikers,” able to survive for long periods without food. This was the second redback he knew of that had been found in Canterbury. In March last year one was found on a Culverden farm. There was a “good chance” the redbacks were now well established in the South Island. Redbacks had been reported at Wanaka, Twizel, and Te Anau. The spiders liked dry, sheltered areas and some areas of Canterbury and Otago were suitable habitats, Mr Savill said. The increasing amount of freight and cargo now coming across the Tasman meant it was inevitable that

the redbacks would come in to New Zealand and become well established. Once they were established there was little that could be done to eliminate them, he said. However, the chances of finding a redback were not great. There were hundreds of thousands of katipo spiders on the Canterbury coast and yet very few people were familiar with them. About 100 types of Australian spiders were now found in New Zealand, and most were quite harmless. Since the last redback was found last year the Christchurch public had become “very spider conscious” and there had been a great increase in the number of inquiries about spiders. The redback found yesterday would be used at the museum for research, Mr

Savill said. The redback is black with an orange-red zig-zag stripe on its back. It has fairly long legs and a globular abdomen usually about twice the size of a pea. Its bite proves fatal in about 5 per cent of cases. About five minutes after being bitten the victim feels intense local pain at the site of the bite, then a severe generalised burning pain. After about an hour the victim develops headaches, sweating, severe cramps, abdominal pains, muscle tremor, unco-ordination and some weakness. Earlier this month a Ministry of Agriculture quarantine officer in Auckland, Mr Travis Flint, was reported to have said that redbacks were now coming to New Zealand so regularly they were widespread throughout the country.