Phoneutria boliviensis

Male

Males have a varied color, prosome, legs and sternum brown, dark opistomatic. Males grow from 30 to 35 mm in length.

Females

The females are slightly larger, growing up to 30-40 mm in length, with a yellowish to brownish brown prossoma, with a thin longitudinal black band, lateral black lines on the clippe, and dorsally on the pedipalp with yellow bands. The opistogosome is dorsally yellowish, with beams to pair with a bright yellow-brownish pair, in the ventral part it varies from gold to yellow with two sharp brown spots and two white spots, have cheliceras that vary from red to reddish-brown, dorsally the legs have two small yellow spots and thin black transverse stripes.[3]

Phoneutria boliviensis lives in both Central and South America, in South America it can be seen in Bolivia, Paraguay, Peru, Ecuador, Brazil and Colombia, are found in habitats associated with dry and humid tropical forests, usually in soil with little waste.[2][4]

Females lay up to 4 egg sacks, with 430-1,300 puppies hatching after 28-34 days. Reproductive behavior consists of the male riding on the female, showing a typical copulation position of modern wandering spiders.[2]

The venom showed proteolytic and hemolytic activity, It contains the presence of phospholipase A2 enzymes, and a protein content with molecular masses below 14 kDa. as well as the presence of two peptides: Ctenitoxin-Pb48 and Ctenitoxin-Pb53, with high homology with the Ctenitoxins (Tx3 family) fa of Phoneutria nigriventer, Phoneutria keyserlingi and Phoneutria reidyi, attacking the voltage-gated calcium channels (Cav 1, 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3) and NMDA-glutamate receptors.[4] The female produced a larger amount of venom, however, the males proved to be more toxic than the females, also, the P. boliviensis venom showed to be more potent against vertebrates than invertebrates, suggesting that it adapted its venom to kill vertebrates, this can explain its toxicity in humans.[5] Regarding the amount of venom, females produced about 6.3 ± 3.6 μL, compared to males: 3.0 ± 1.7 μL, however, the venom of males is much more effective in vertebrates than invertebrates, and more potent than the female.[6]

At least two bites were reported by Phoneutria in Costa Rica, the first case occurred with a 65-year-old man, who was handling a bunch of bananas, bitten on the index finger of his right hand, immediately felt severe pain, which spread to his shoulder, in just a few minutes, he had swelling in his forearm, lymphatic infections, nausea, dizziness and profuse sweating, after treatment, 72 hours later he was discharged. Another case occurred with a 43-year-old female patient, when placing her right hand in the water to remove a bunch of bananas, she felt a "stab" in the back of the right side, reported immediate intense pain after the bite and a '' heat that went up through the veins '', dizziness that lasted for 5 minutes, feeling cold, chills and vomiting, in 20 minutes she presented crosstalk and edema at the site of the bite, 60 minutes later she was trembling, temperature of 37°C, 80 beats per minute, after treatment, 36 hours later his temperature was 37,1°C, 68 beats per minute and blood pressure 130/80. [7]