If someone asked you to name a place with poisonous fauna, what would spring to mind? Perhaps Australia, with infamous snakes like the inland taipan (Oxyuranus microlepidotus), or maybe Brazil, home to dreaded creatures like the yellow scorpion (Tityus serrulatus). Europe, however, would probably be low on the list, as the continent is not known for its menacing fauna.
In recent years, however, fear of a small eight-legged creature has risen in southern Europe, as deaths attributed to one particular spider have been widely publicised. The latest known case occurred just this summer in the Italian town of Bari, where a 23-year-old man died following a suspected bite by a Mediterranean recluse spider, also known as a brown recluse or corner spider. Just a month earlier, a 52-year-old police officer in Palermo died of the same cause.
