Spiders are one of the most ancient land animals on our planet; they descended from a crab-like ancestor. Now the order of spiders includes more than forty thousand different species.

Karakurt belongs to the class of arachnids, order - spiders, is a representative of the genus Latrodectus, the poison of these spiders deadly for animals and humans.

The habitat of the karakurt includes the territories of the tropical zone of Africa, Central and Western Asia and southern Europe. In our country, these spiders live in the Caucasus, Crimea, in the south of the Urals, but in Lately their range expanded to the north. They are met in the Moscow region, in Rostov-on-Don, in Orel. Karakurt likes to settle in wastelands, in ravines, and on the banks of reservoirs.

The structure of the karakurt is practically no different from the structure of other spiders. Its body is divided into two sections: the anterior section of the body, with four pairs of eyes, is covered with a hard chitinous shield. The second section is the abdomen, which is covered with an elastic membrane. The arachnoid glands are located in this part of the body. On the head of the body there are two pairs of modified limbs - chelicerae and pedipalps, behind which are walking legs. Spiders have eight of them.

Chelicerae consist of one limb, at the end of which there is a claw into which the poison gland opens. They are designed to grab and hold prey, as well as protect against enemies.

The pedipalps are similar to the legs, but shorter. They are an organ of touch and usually do not take part in movement. In sexually mature males. They are slightly modified.

Lifestyle

The main difference between a male and a female among karakurts is size. The female is almost twice the size of the male. It can reach two centimeters in length, while the male does not grow more than seven millimeters. In addition, the male has red spots on his abdomen. The female's body is colored deep black. Karakurts, like other spiders, are good runners and can cover quite long distances and at high speed. This is all the more surprising, because the spider’s limbs completely lack muscle fibers.

In addition to moving, the spider uses its legs to dig holes and weave webs. The legs also have olfactory and tactile organs.

Karakurts, like all spiders, are predators. They catch their prey with a web. Spiders insert chelicerae into captured prey, releasing venom and digestive juices. Having entangled the victim in a web, they leave it for a while. Digestive juices quickly digest the prey, after which the spiders suck out the resulting broth.

Mating games

The female karakurt, before mating, leaves the nest and is in constant motion, leaving behind a special double thread, along which the male finds her.

The mating process is preceded by fairly long dances. The male twitches his abdomen and animatedly moves his pedipalps.

The spider approaches its partner with the greatest caution, but females only show aggression when they are not ready. Females do not attack partners, but favorably accept courtship.

Competition between males during mating season is common. One female gathers up to ten contenders around her, fighting among themselves. The strongest and most agile one drives away other males and proceeds to mating games.

During mating games, the female karakurt enters a state of catalepsy and remains motionless for quite a long time. In this state, she is not dangerous for the male.

Caring for offspring

Caring for offspring in karakurt females is clearly expressed during the incubation period. First of all, they look for a place for future laying, digging a nest in the ground, or adapting abandoned rodent burrows for this purpose. Before entering the nest, she pulls the trapping nets. And only then do they lay cocoons with eggs. Females remain in the nest throughout the incubation period. Juveniles usually appear in April.

With the appearance of the offspring, the maternal functions of the female are completed and the young, attached to the webs, are carried away by the wind. By the beginning of summer, young karakurt animals reach maturity and are capable of mating.

Natural enemies of karakurt

Karakurts have many enemies in wildlife. Herds of grazing animals trample the grass and destroy the nests of karakurts. Hedgehogs are not susceptible to karakurt poison, so they feed on them fearlessly. A large number of beetles and wasps lay larvae in spider cocoons, destroying the entire brood.

Karakurt and man

Karakurt venom contains a neurotoxin and is similar in effect to the venom of rattlesnakes. Hyperemia occurs at the site of the bite, which quickly disappears. After a quarter of an hour, sharp pains appear in the abdomen, chest, and legs go numb. All this is accompanied by mental agitation, convulsions, and headaches. The heartbeat slows down, arrhythmia appears, blood and protein appear in the urine. The victim's condition becomes critical. Most effective means is an antikarakurt serum. With timely administration, the patient's condition quickly normalizes.

It should be noted that karakurts are never the first to attack. Spiders are only aggressive if disturbed. The most dangerous are the bites of females. The largest number of bites occurs in June-July - the time of annual migrations.

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Animals. Karakurts are small-sized arthropod invertebrate animals. As a rule, the hunting networks of karakurts differ significantly from the networks of other spiders. Karakurts build their webs in a chaotic manner, and not in a vertical position, as most other spiders do, but in a horizontal position. Karakurt is a very poisonous and also inconspicuous spider. For example, the peculiarity of the karakurt is in a hanging position on one web, with its head pointing down, watching over its prey. You may not notice it and accidentally catch it, which will be regarded by the karakurt as an attack.

Karakurt: Genus Black widows – Family of web spiders – Order Spiders – Class Arachnida – Phylum Arthropods.

Body structure of karakurt

The body of the karakurt consists of two sections: a continuous, rounded one – the cephalothorax and a spherical abdomen. These two sections are connected to each other by the seventh segment of the cephalothorax. The abdomen of the karakurt consists of eleven fused segments and a telson. Karakurt also has four pairs of walking legs and two pairs of jaws. The oral appendages of the karakurt spider have hook-shaped protrusions turned upward.

Animal characteristics:

Dimensions: The body length of the karakurt is 1-1.2 cm, with limbs up to 3 cm.

Color: females have several reddish-orange stripes on the surface of the abdomen; Representatives of the European species may lack red spots. Which can mislead a person and the karakurt is not identified correctly. In males, the abdomen is painted with many bright red spots, around which there is usually a white outline. In both females and males, the color of the abdomen is black.

Karakurt food. Karakurt, like all predatory spiders, has a semi-internal or extra-intestinal digestion. Karakurt attacks its victim, piercing it with the help of oral appendages (chelicerae). Thus, the karakurt injects poison and digestive juices into the damaged parts of the victim’s body. Karakurt processes the body from all sides, the victim is half digested and then consumed by absorption. The sucked insect leaves an empty chitinous cover. Karakurt spiders feed mainly on insects (locusts, green grasshoppers, chafers) and other invertebrate animals.

Reproduction and habitat of karakurt

Karakurts are dioecious animals. They have high fertility, up to 1000-1300 eggs per year. After breeding, the males die.

Karakurts are distributed throughout to the globe, in particular on the territory of Ukraine (most in Crimea), Kazakhstan, Russia, North Africa, Eurasia, etc. Prefers rocky and uneven surfaces.

Virulence

Karakurt males, as a rule, are not able to bite through human skin, therefore, in comparison with females, they are less dangerous. But female karakurts are one of the most poisonous spiders. With the help of powerful chelicerae, they are able to bite through even a human nail. Female karakurts have neurotropic poison with high toxicity. Karakurt poison can lead to the death of not only a vertebrate animal, but also a person. Among vertebrates, dogs and hedgehogs, as well as many amphibians, are less sensitive to poison.

Symptoms of a bite

After a human is bitten by a karakurt, the first symptoms appear within 10-30 minutes, representing severe pain and weakness of the whole body (upper and lower press, lower back, chest). Afterwards, muscle weakness appears, the muscles of the legs weaken to a greater extent, as a result of which the victim loses the ability to move. The pulse also quickens, pallor, nausea, vomiting, lacrimation, etc. appear. Later, the victim experiences clouding of mind, depression, etc.

Treatment for a bite

One of the methods of treatment is, within 1 minute after a karakurt bite, you cauterize the wound, for example, with a match. Since the poison is destroyed when heated. This technique is, of course, very painful and is not one of the best, but if everything is done correctly and on time, you can prevent future pain and suffering that cannot be compared with the short-term pain from a burning match. Then immediately hospitalize the victim.

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• The insect is called a black widow, since the female karakurt mercilessly eliminates her suitors after mating. With rapid movements of her paws, she entwines them with a web and inflicts a fatal bite. Therefore, people compare the female karakurt to a widow.
• At the beginning of the twentieth century, karakurt was considered especially dangerous insects, whose bites killed up to 400 people a year and about 350 heads of livestock.
• Karakurt spiders, having hatched from eggs, live in a cocoon for about six months, and then leave their home. At the same time, they actively eat each other and in the end only the strongest survive.
• Without medical intervention, the spread of spider venom in the human body for more than 3 days is fatal.
• In order to protect itself from enemies, the black widow is capable of pretending to be dead in a split second, shrinking and falling to the ground from the web.

Despite the fact that karakurt is considered one of the most poisonous insects among I never thought that I would ever write about these spiders, but they got to Rostov region, where I live. My city is located on the coast of the Azov Sea, and recent years These three spiders simply do not give life to residents of the private sector located by the sea. Now, every summer, a special service goes around the coastal private sector to catch these spiders, and their egg clutches are simply immediately burned out with fire. In our city, there were cases when karakurts bit local residents, people were urgently hospitalized in the hospital! Fortunately, everyone was saved, but the very proximity to these spiders is very unpleasant and dangerous! They spend the winter with us just fine; in short, they have taken root well!

Black, scary and ominous, with long thick legs, shiny black eyes, and a bright red stripe on the abdomen - these spiders bring real terror to Almaty residents. As employees of the Institute of Zoology told a NUR.KZ correspondent, these spiders are not so dangerous. These are the so-called “false karakurts”.

False karakurts are very similar to the “original” - rather large, black spiders with long legs. But one thing distinguishes them: a bright red stripe on the abdomen. The real karakurt has a whole body and paws that are not as glossy as the false one, but velvety, and red stripes are only on the lower part of the abdomen, or even none at all.

In addition, a real karakurt prefers to settle away from people, while a false one, on the contrary, settles within the city and feels great among people. Unlike the false one, the real karakurt loves the steppe and settles under stones or in rodent burrows. There is always a web around his lair, in which dead grasshoppers and other insects usually hang.

The karakurt spider is one of the most dangerous creatures on earth. Despite its small size and non-threatening appearance, karakurt poison is 15 times stronger than poison rattlesnake and 50 times - tarantula poison. For a horse or camel, a karakurt bite is often fatal.

The karakurt spider is one of the most dangerous creatures on earth

Without prompt medical intervention and professional help, a meeting with a person can also result in death, although such cases are extremely rare. The black spider evokes mystical associations due to the presence of 13 bright red spots on the body and cannibal family traditions. Kalmyk shamans use a dangerous creature in some rituals. There is a common belief that karakurts live only in deserts and do not pose a danger to residents of the central and even southern steppe and forest regions, but this is not so. Recently, the migration of biting “robbers” to the north has been obvious, and climate warming has led to the fact that karakurts are recorded in regions where they have never been observed before.

The poisonous karakurt spider belongs to the order of spiders of the family of web spiders from the genus of black widows. Translated from the Turkic language, the name is literally translated as a black worm. The Latin name Latrodectus tredecimguttatus reflects external signs- 13 points on the back and the essence of the spider (biting robber). What does the karakurt spider, which is sometimes called the steppe spider, look like? In terms of size, the spider belongs to the medium arachnids. The size of the male is 4-7 mm, the female karakurt is 2-3 times larger and can reach 20 mm. The body of the eight-legged spider is black, with a pronounced abdomen. Both males and females have red spots or dots on the upper side of the abdomen. On the lower part of the abdomen a clear scarlet pattern is visible, similar to the outline of an hourglass. The spot on the abdomen often has a snow-white halo. Adults (males) can be completely black. Karakurt is a predator; it feeds on insects, which it uses a web to catch.

Despite its small size and non-threatening appearance, the karakurt's venom is 15 times stronger than that of a rattlesnake and 50 times stronger than that of a tarantula.

White karakurt, also related to web spiders, has a white or yellowish color. There is no hourglass pattern or spots on the body, but there are 4 indentations forming a rectangle. White spiders are much less poisonous, their bite is not dangerous to people, although the venom of the white karakurt is similar in its toxicological properties and effects on the human body and animals to the venom of the black widow. White karakurts can be found in Russia and neighboring countries, but the main habitat is located further south - in North Africa, the Middle East, and also in Central Asia. Let's focus on the black widow karakurt as the most dangerous representative spymasters, whom you can meet at domestic resorts.

Karakurts are distinguished by their fertility; in the southern regions there are periodic surges in the birth rate, which entail an increase in the number of casualties among people and loss of livestock. Poisonous spiders in Kazakhstan and Crimea attack dozens of people every year, but serious consequences occur extremely rarely. The female lays more than 1,000 eggs per year, which are placed in a protective cocoon. The newly born spiders continue to live inside the cocoon and emerge from there only next spring. Puberty occurs 2-3 months after the spiderlings leave their original home. Eggs are laid in holes on the ground or in rodent burrows. Fertilization occurs during the hottest months of summer. After mating, the female karakurt eats the male, although there are exceptions - for unknown reasons, the female can either destroy the male before mating or leave him alive after fertilization.

Gallery: karakurt spider (25 photos)

Black widow spider or karakurt (video)

Habitat and biological enemies

The zone of residence of the Karakurts covers the Crimea, southern Russia and Ukraine, the Astrakhan steppes, Kazakhstan, Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa. When migrating north, spiders reach Saratov region, Southern Urals and even the Moscow region, but they cannot settle in the northern regions, in winter period spiders die. For living, karakurts choose dry steppe areas and arable lands, wastelands, salt marshes, slopes of ravines, ditches, ruins of abandoned villages, cracks in adobe houses. The spider can also be found in populated areas, on summer cottages, sometimes it penetrates a person’s home. The peak of activity occurs during the fertilization period - June-August.

The natural enemies of karakurts are:

• sheep and goats, which are not affected by the karakurt bite;
• sphex wasps that inject their venom into spiders, which paralyzes them;
• insect riders that lay their eggs in karakurt cocoons;
• hedgehogs that are not vulnerable to spider attacks.

Flocks of sheep or herds of goats are used to trample the nests of karakurts, Crimean peninsula in this way it is cleared of poisonous creatures during periods of sharply increased reproduction or when clearing pastures for horses, cows and other livestock. During outbreaks of spider births, they can cause significant harm to livestock, so preventive measures are necessary.

Danger to humans

As a rule, males and young individuals do not pose a danger to humans, since they cannot bite through the skin with their weak jaws, although isolated cases of attacks are known. Adult females pose a danger, especially in July-August. You can distinguish the female by its color. Males have red spots with white rims, while females have no edging. Sometimes in females the red spots change to yellow stripes. Females have long legs up to 30 mm and are significantly larger than males.

The attack happens very quickly. Karakurt attacks only in self-defense. Nature has endowed the spider with this strong poison, so that he can capture the burrows of small rodents, which do not come into conflict with him and immediately vacate their territory. A predator can attack when it first seems to be in danger, so it is better to avoid contact with it. The difficulty in detecting danger lies in the fact that karakurts do not weave their network in classic form. The threads are arranged horizontally, the web does not have a characteristic pattern and is chaotic. Attacks occur most often at night and on vacation, when you can accidentally crush the karakurt or disturb the web.

A spider bite is not painless, but it does not cause much concern. The bite site is marked with a small red spot, which disappears after a few minutes. After the poison has taken effect, the bitten person begins to experience severe pain in the damaged area. Specific psychological and physiological reactions arise.

In the first minutes and hours after the bite, poisoning is characterized by the following symptoms:

• strong mental agitation;
• feeling of fear of death, panic;
• spasms and suffocation;
• severe pain in the abdomen, chest and lower back;
• feeling that the legs are being taken away;
• bluish complexion;
• shallow breathing, dizziness;
• sometimes cramps of the arms and legs, tremors, vomiting;
• increased heart rate, arrhythmia;
• retention of urination and defecation;
• increased protein content in urine.

After the body’s initial reaction, a person experiences lethargy, apathy, weakness, depression, and sometimes delirium, but severe pain persists. After a few days, a red rash appears on the body. Death possible in especially dangerous cases with general weakness of the body and lack of qualified medical care, especially if the victim has diseases of cardio-vascular system. If the course is favorable, recovery occurs within 3-4 weeks.

Beware of karakurt (video)

Treatment and prevention

The most elementary and known since ancient times method of treating a bite poisonous spider, supported by official medicine, is cauterization. The predator's venom is sensitive to heat and is destroyed when heated, losing its toxic properties. Therefore, immediately, within 2 minutes after the attack, the damaged area must be burned with a cigarette, match or other method. The spider does not have powerful jaws, the bite depth does not exceed 0.5 mm, so immediate cauterization has a strong effect. In any case, you should contact a medical facility as soon as possible.

As special measures, anti-caracourt serum is used, which is administered intramuscularly. The serum relieves the main symptoms of poisoning, and recovery time is reduced to 3-4 days.

The disadvantage of this product is its high cost. In the absence of a special substance, the following is administered intravenously:

• novocaine;
• calcium chloride;
• magnesium hydrogen sulfate.
• 33% ethyl alcohol;
• 2-3% solution of potassium permanganate.

The victim must be given water, rubbed with alcohol, and enemas are recommended. Can be used as painkillers universal remedies: Analgin, Diphenhydramine, Ketanol.

In cases of living in the territory inhabited by karakurts, it is necessary to be careful when cleaning residential premises, especially in adobe houses, and pay attention to the presence of cobwebs in personal areas. When going outdoors, you should follow certain rules:

• do not spend the night in the open air in habitats of poisonous spiders;
• do not come into contact with the inside of the tents;
• examine the place where you spend the night or rest, paying attention to holes and natural depressions in the ground, rodent burrows, and if there are any, cover them with earth;
• use covering clothing and wear a hat;
• periodically, and without fail before going to bed, carefully inspect the tent, sleeping places, clothes, shoes and other property;
• use the canopy, tucking it under the sleeping place;
• dig around the tent, making a shallow ditch;
• do not take off your shoes;
• If you find a karakurt, do not touch it; if the spider is on your clothes, shake it off or knock it down with a click.

To prevent the death of domestic animals, the soil is treated with hexachlorane and other poisons.

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