WMN Editors

THE WORLD OF VENOMOUS SNAKES

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ISSN-1059-6518

THE WORLD OF VENOMOUS SNAKES

By Frank Hubbell, D.O.

SNAKE BITE STATISTICS:

It is impossible to accurately count the number of venomous snakebites worldwide, simply because most occur in rural and remote areas where access to medical care is limited, statistics are not kept, and snakebites are not reported.

 Worldwide:

There are reportedly 421,000 envenomations per year with 20,000 deaths.

But, snakebites and deaths from snakebites are grossly underreported.

It is estimated that the real numbers could be as high as 1,841,000 envenomations with 94,000 deaths per year.

 United States:

Approximately 8000 venomous snakebites are reported each year with 5 – 10 deaths per year.

SNAKES ARE:

–       elongated

–       legless/limbless

–       carnivorous reptiles

–       lack eyelids

–       lack external ears

–       ectothermic (cold-blooded)

–       most are amniote vertebrates (lay eggs that contain amniotic fluid, suitable for the terrestrial environment), some snakes do have live births

–       covered in overlapping scales

–       most kill by swallowing their prey whole or death by constriction

–       of the 3,400 species, 300 are venomous and use their venom to kill, subdue, and digest their prey

 

Kingdom – Animalia

Phylum – Chordata

Class – Reptilia

Order – Squamata

Suborder – Serpentes

Family – 20 different families

4 families are venomous

Genera – 500 different Genera

Species – 3,400 different species

3,100 are nonvenomous

300 are venomous

 

Interestingly enough, venomous snakes can be divided into different families based on their dentition and types of fangs, not as you might suspect, by the type of venom they possess. The rest of snakes are fangless, aglyphous.

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WMN Editors

THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF SPIDERS

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ISSN 1059-6518

 

THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF SPIDERS

By Frank Hubbell, DO

Illustrations by T.B.R. Walsh

 

It is said that there are so many spiders in the world that you are never more that 10 feet away from one. With over 50,000 species of spiders this is probably true. However, there only a few that can harm humans. Even though there are only a few that are dangerous to humans, most people still have a disproportionate fear of itsy, bitsy, spiders.

Taxonomic rank of spiders:

Kingdom – Animalia

Phylum – Arthopoda

Subphylum – Chelicerata

Class – Arachnida

Order – Araneae

Family – there are 109 families of spiders

Species – there are 50,000 species of spiders

Note that spiders are members of the phylum Arthopoda, in the class Arachnida not Insecta. SPIDERS ARE NOT INSECTS.

There are 11 orders of the class Arachnida:

Listed below are the orders of spiders with examples of each order:

Acari – ticks and mites

Amblypygi – whip scorpions

Araneae – spiders

Opiliones – harvestmen or daddy longlegs

Palpigradi – tiny whip scorpions

Pseudoscorpions – tiny spiders with scorpion like with pincers

Ricinulei – hooded tickspiders

Schizomida – small spiders that live in the upper layers of soil

Scorpions – scorpions

Solifugae – camel, wind, or sun spiders

Thelyphonida – vinegarrons or large whip scorpions

This article will focus primarily on the order Araneae, spiders, and, in particular, the ones that are considered dangerous to humans.

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WMN Editors

DANGEROUS CATERPILLARS

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 ISSN-1059-6518

CATERPILLARS

 By Frank Hubbell, DO

Illustrations By T.B.R. Walsh

What on earth compelled us to write an article about venomous caterpillars? What a curious topic. The whole process began in our very own back yard. As it turns out, this has been a good year for tent caterpillars. There have been lots of them creating their nasty looking web tents in our apple trees. The good news is that the leafy destruction of the trees does little or no harm to the tree itself. But, if you get a couple of those hairy little caterpillars down the back of your shirt as you clean the tents out of the trees, and you end up with quite an uncomfortable rash.

 

How does a caterpillar cause a rash?

 

Caterpillars are the larval forms of the members of the order Lepidoptera, insects that consist of moths and butterflies. We enjoy these beautiful little insects as they flit about the flowers collecting nectar or fly around the front porch light. Most of us consider them to be harmless creatures to be admired and enjoyed. But, as it turns out, some of them in their larval, or caterpillar, form can be quite harmful and dangerous to humans. Many of these larvae have defense mechanisms to help minimize the risk of being eaten by a bird, frog, or other beast. It is these defense mechanisms that can cause us problems as well.

 

These caterpillar defense mechanisms include spiny bristles, setae which are long, fine hairs, and urticating hairs that have venom glands. In fact, there are several species of caterpillars in the jungles of South America that contain toxins potent enough to kill humans. These potentially lethal caterpillars are the larvae of the Bag Shelter Moth and the South American Silk Moth.

 

It is the puss caterpillar, Megalopyge opercularis, that is the most dangerous caterpillar in North America.

 

There is even a name for the contact dermatitis and other symptoms that are caused by coming in physical contact with a toxic caterpillar, lepidoterism, also known as moth or caterpillar dermatitis.

 

THE PROBLEM:

 

The problem is these fine hairs or spines , also referred to as setae, that cover the caterpillar and make it less appetizing to a bird or other consumers of crawling critters. These hairs are very irritating on the skin, if inhaled, they can cause respiratory distress and precipitate an asthma attack.

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WMN Editors

Indo-Pacific Lionfish

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March/April 2012  ISSN-1059-6518  Volume 25 Number 2

The INVASIVE Indo-Pacific Lionfish

 By Frank Hubbell, DO

Illustration by T.B.R. Walsh

 

While recently in the Caribbean, we became acutely aware of a major problem for the spectacular underwater world of the Caribbean Sea – the invasive Lionfish.

 

The problem is that Lionfish do not belong in the Atlantic Ocean or the Caribbean Sea. They are an Indo-Pacific predatory fish, and that is exactly where they belong – in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

 

In the 1990’s, they were unintentionally introduced into the Atlantic, probably in the bilge water of ships returning to the Atlantic side of the world from the Indo-Pacific side. Today they have spread, as an invasive species, along the East Coast of the USA.  In addition, they can be found in the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System and the wider Caribbean Sea.

 

A highly invasive species, they do not have any natural predators in these waters. In fact, in these marine environs, their only predator is we humans.

 

LIONFISH

 

Pterois volitans and Pterois miles are the two species, out of nine, of Lionfish that have invaded the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea. They have multiple spines in their fins containing toxic barbs.

 

The toxin in these barbs is a complex protein mixture of neuromuscular toxins and a neurotransmitter, acetylcholine. It is the acetylcholine that causes the untoward effects on the heart.

 

Hazard to Humans

 

Because they are not an aggressive fish, they will not attack you. However, they still present a hazard to humans who handle a caught fish or step on a fish and are impaled by the toxic spines in the fins.

 

Injuries are not uncommon in the Indo-Pacific Oceans, with about 30,000 – 40,000 injuries beings reported annually. But, the envenomation is rarely lethal.

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