Black Widow Spider Venom Dangers

http://www.livescience.com/49333-why-black-widow-spider-venom-is-so-potent.html


     In the article "Why Black Widow Spider Venom is so Potent," by Jennifer Viegas on Discovery News, she informs the readers about the potency of their venom. Over the years, the venom has developed into a powerful tool, allowing black widow spiders to triumph over many insects and sometimes animals. This lethal venom has evolved rapidly, and in doing so, equipped the spiders with an advantage, allowing them to create larger and stronger webs in efforts to handle even-bigger prey. This information, presented at the 2015 annual conference of the Society of Integrative and Comparative Biology in West Palm Beach Florida.
     These spiders produce similar toxic compounds as others in the spider community, however, in their's, the most powerful neurotoxins called latrotoxins. Latrotoxins are named after a group of black widow spiders called Latrodectus. The most toxic latrotoxins is the alpha-latrotoxin, which hijacks the victim's own nervous system. Jessica Garb of UMASS Lowell, determined that latrotoxins are actually more popular in the arachnid community than previously believed, as many other types of spiders produce their own watered down versions helpful in hunting, but nontoxic to humans.
     So the question then becomes, why do female black widow spiders have this feature? Garb and her team of scientists think it was to expand their diet. These spiders are able to eat small mammals and reptiles, in addition to typical smaller prey.The females also eat the males, and because their diets are quite open ended, it begs the question, was there a time when this species had a strict diet and was forced to adapt to its surroundings, therefore prompting the venom toxicity to increase to broaden its options.