Spiders Of The Middle East

Many travelers to the Middle East, including military personnel assigned to Iraq or other locations, worry about the threat of exotic creatures including spiders. While spiders are not uncommon in the Middle East, and as anywhere bites do occasionally occur, most spiders are harmless and lack potent venom to cause serious pain or harm.

Several varieties of the widow spider (Latrodectus genus) are found in various laces in North Africa and the Middle East. Widows have thin long legs, a dark body with a colored section. The female of the spieces is far more dangerous than the male, which rarely bites humans. Black widows sometimes hide in trash and other objects left outside overnight. You therefore need to take care when picking up trash bags and recepticles like cans and bottles. The bite is not immediately felt, but soon becomes very painful and swollen, with shock, fever, nausea, increased blood pressure, headache, and difficulty breathing sometimes occurring. Most symptons will subside within a couple of days in most cases, but it is still important to seek medical attention.

Also found in Africa and the Middle East is the Harpactirinae, commonly called the baboon spider. It has an appearance similar to a tarantula, with thick, hairy legs. They have strong venom and their bites can be painful, but they are not considered a danger.



Perhaps the most famous spider found in the Middle East in the notorious camel spider. Stories of these horrifying creatures spread amongst US soldiers during the Gulf War, and more recently US troops in Iraq have spread stories and photographs on the internet. Camel Spiders, however, are not really spiders. They are a different kind of anthropod called solipugids. Contrary to the many tall tales of camel spiders that have spread, solipugids are not venomous, and they can not produce webs like spiders can. The tall tales also exaggerate the speed of the camel spiders to be around 25 miles per hour, but their real maximum speed is around 10 miles per hour (pretty fast for such a small creatures, but not nearly
fast enough to catch up with speeding Humvees as the stories would have you believe.

"How big can camel spiders get?"

Their size has also been exaggerated widely, but their real size is less than 5 inches including leg span. There is an imfamous picture circulating the internet showing a camel spider being held in front of a camera by a group of soliders. In this photo the solipugid is held very near the camera lense to give the appearance of a giant creature.

Solipugids usually come out at night rather than the day, and they are attracted to light during the night time, so they occasionally find themselves amongst humans. They also seek shade if they come out during the day, and in a hot desert the humans usually seek shade as well, so once again encounters are bound to occur. But stories of soldiers having limbs eaten alive while sleeping are rediculous distortions. Solipugids do not bite unless provoked.

So there is no need to panic if you spot a camel spider in desert locations like Iraq or Kuwait. If you leave him alone, he'll probably leave you alone too!

Camel spiders are not found strictly in the Middle East, and Afghanistan camel spider sightings also occur. Though these are occasional.