(A later report suggests that this spider was not originally native to these islands and, that it was unlikely to have arrived in the UK on a banana boat.)

Wikipedia say of the Steatoda nobilis, commonly known in England as the biting spider or the false black widow, "The spider is native to the Canary Islands but arrived in England in around 1870 through bananas sent to Torquay.[1] In England it has a reputation as one of the few local spider species which will readily bite humans."

The source of that information is this story in the Telegraph, by David Sapsted, Watch out, the black widow's sister is ready to bite you, about Jason Fricker, 34, who was bitten three times on the chest and stomach after one fell down the front of his shirt a week ago. This is not the first time, as is confirmed by this case of a young woman in Worthing being bitten on the shoulder by the immigrant spider.

Back in 2001, the BBC reported that the Biting spider widens its web. Having gone native in Dorset, it was then also setting up home in Devon, Cornwall and Essex. In recent years, say the Telegraph, it has spread from the West Country across southern England as far as Sussex and is now migrating north through Surrey.

This listing at UK Safari also agrees with it's probable Canary Island origin.

One of the things I like about these islands is that you do NOT meet huge spiders like you do in the UK, because I have a really great fear of them. There, I had a theory about them: the size of the spider was relative to the age and grandure of the house they lived in and I have personally seen them stretching right across the width of an 8 inch diameter cornice decoration in a fine Victorian villa built in the 1870's.

Here in Tenerife, I have actually spent the last 15 years under the impression that we do not have any poisonous or biting varieties of insects or animals and the largest spider one ever sees is around 1 1/4 inches long. I would have almost doubted that these little beasties had come from these islands, except that here in the El Palmar valley, one sees a lot of spiders that fit the description of the Steatoda Nobilis or False Widow Spider. From now on, I shall be giving them an even wider berth!

The bite is no more severe than a wasp sting, unless you are one of the unfortunate people to have a severe reaction to them and, if you are one of the weird people who actually likes spiders, now you know where you can find them in the wild.

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