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Poisonous Spiders in Africa

Africa is home to a variety of different species of spiders, but some are naturally more poisonous than others. Africa plays home to a wide variety of venomous spiders from different genus and species groups. Although there are many venomous spiders in Africa, most do not pose a threat to people.

Button Spiders
- Button spiders fall into the Theridiidae family, and most are found in the southern part of Africa as well as Cape Verde and Madagascar. These spiders feature long, slender legs and rounded abdomens, and they vary greatly in color from black to cream with a variety of different markings. Some button spiders feature an hourglass pattern on the body, while others have white or red bands. The male spiders in this family are smaller than the females. Females create funnel shaped webs low to the ground and have creamy-white egg sacs that can be fluffy, spiky or round and smooth. The most common types are black button spiders and brown button spiders, both which feature a neurotoxic venom.
Violin Spiders
- Violin spiders fall into the Loxosceles family, and they are typically brown or red in color featuring dark markings. True to their name, these spiders have a violin-shaped mark on the cephalthorax, but it is not as distinct as other spiders featuring this marking. Unlike most other species of spiders, violin spiders have three sets of eyes rather than four. These spiders are nocturnal, resting in their habitats during the day and wandering to hunt at night. They create their habitats under fallen logs and wood and in caves, and they create flattened sacs for their eggs. Violin spiders do not create webs. Their venom is cytotoxic venom.
Sac Spiders
- Sac spiders have a cytotoxic venom. They are pale spiders that are between fawn and yellow-green. They have a unique leg arrangement in that two pairs are directed toward the front and two pairs directed backward, and the first pair of legs is longer than the remaining three pairs. Sac spiders typically have darkly colored mouth parts and leg tips. They are a common type of outdoor spider, with the long-legged sac spider being the most common species in southern Africa. This is a 10- to 16-mm long spider with a distinctive black head. These spiders are mostly found under stones, bark, in low vegetation and bushes, in leaf litter and rotted out logs.

Insects & Science