Deep copy Europe An extremely rare Chilean recluse spider nests in two underground chambers at the University of Tübingen. According to the university, sticky traps will be installed at the location where it was found. “First of all, it helps observe the spider.”
The openable trap is a small black plastic box that can be opened. There is white film on the floor, adhesive strip. They still do it Animal follow. Because the university doesn’t know exactly how many spiders live in the basement or for how long. Further action would be taken on the observations, he said. The spokesman would not say which ones.
In early November, the university announced that a university employee had caught the first such spider in the basement area of a lecture hall center that was not open to the public. Hubert Höfer, head of the biological sciences department at the Karlsruhe State Museum of Natural History, identified the animal as Loxosceles laeta. Meanwhile, specimens of the immigrating eight-legged creatures have been found in other areas on the Morgenstelle campus and on the Tal campus.
Active at night and not very fond of biting
Höfer considers the danger of spiders to humans to be very low. This animal is active at night, avoids humans and does not like to bite. If a bite occurs, it could be that this type of spider releases poison. Then you should go to the doctor. In rare cases, tissue damage (necrosis) may occur. According to Höfer, even if a bite occurs, the risk is very low compared to the dangers faced every day, for example in traffic.
According to Höfer, it is likely that specimens of the spider species were “moved” between locations within the university. This could happen if, for example, a box containing spiders was sent as a stowaway inside a university.
Loves living in universities and museums
Similar to the German trembling spider, Loxosceles laeta is a frequent household guest in several South American countries. “There it lives close to humans. The spider poses a particular danger when it hides in clothes lying around and is then worn,” the university said in a statement.
Outside their homeland, spiders have been found in several places in the world. “It is surprising that spiders often find their home in universities,” said the University of Tübingen. In Europe, a population of hermit spiders has lived in a museum building at the University of Helsinki since the 1960s. It has been kept at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts (USA) for almost a long time.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:251118-930-309538/1
