Rare female Redback spider sighted in Satara

SATARA: A femaleRedback spider, which is a rare and highly venomous spider, was found on a hill at the government polytechnic in Pusegaon, about 38 km from Satara, on Monday. There are only five reports of sighting of a Redback spider in India, the first being in 1900 in Pune by British museum of natural history scientist R I Pocock.
Wildlife protection society of Satara members Dattatreya Chavan, Dhananjay Khandjode and Purushottam Ambawave found the spider on the hill.
"We took a photograph and released it at the same location," said Chavan, adding that the Redback spider is a native of Australia. "There are five notings about the spider being sighted in India. The first being in Pune in 1900, second at Thane in 1961, third in Coimbatore in 1997, followed by Vadodra in 2001 and the latest was three years ago at Lonand in Phaltan," he said.
Redback males are too small and it is usually the females of the specie that bite people. Redback spiders are typically entirely black, except for a broad red band down the back of the body and a red hourglass-shaped mark underneath. Large females may span a 50 cent coin, but males are much smaller. Immature spiders do not have the typical colouring.
Redback spiders are found throughout Australia, but are less common in colder regions. They are very common in populated areas. Redbacks spin webs anywhere out of the direct effects of the weather - on buildings, in parks, under steps, in corners, grass, junk piles, under window sills and around pot plants. They are generally timid, except when an object is placed in the web, or when tending to the young or the eggs.
Hundreds of bites are reported each year in Australia, but less than 30% require anti-venom treatment. Before the anti-venom was available, Redback spider bites caused about a dozen known deaths until Straun Sutherland discovered the cure.
The initial bite is often felt, but is apparently painless, although some victims have reported burning sensations. Puncture marks are not always evident. In the majority of bites, intense local pain is experienced about five minutes after the bite. In about 40% of bites, the symptoms included sweating and/or some neuromuscular activity such as muscular weakness, paralysis, stiffness, loss of coordination, tremors, and paresthesiae. In about 10% of bites, muscular weakness, nausea, vomiting, local swelling, dizziness or fainting, local redness, tachycardia, palpitations, insomnia, rigors, fever, and muscle spasms were recorded. Some reactions can be quite unusual like tetanic spasms, tingling in the teeth, swelling of the tongue, infection of the bite site, convulsions, thirst, diarrhoea, shock, rashes, patches of sweating, periorbital oedema, and others. However, the diagnostic indication of a Redback spider bite is localised sweating at the site of the bite.
A Redback spider may lay eggs every 25 to 30 days. In one group of about nine to 12 egg sacs (up to 29 have been recorded) a single female may lay up to 5,000 eggs. The eggs hatch around 13 to 15 days after being laid (often near the onset of rain). Females may mature in 60 to 325 days, but the average is about four months. The smaller male matures in 37 to 167 days; on average in about 90 days. Females live for between two and three years; males live for up to six to seven months. Without food, spiders survive about 100 days on an average.