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View Full Version : Looks like another email hoax - any entomologists here?


BTox
19th August 2003, 06:22 PM
Check this out:

"1.Three women in North Florida, turned up at hospitals over a 5-day period, all with the same symptoms. Fever, chills, and vomiting, followed by muscular collapse, paralysis, and finally, death. There were no outward signs of trauma. Autopsy results showed toxicity in the blood.

These women did not know each other, and seemed to have nothing in common. It was discovered, however, that they had all visited the same Restaurant (Olive Garden) within days of their deaths. The health department descended on the restaurant, shutting it down. The food, water, and air conditioning were all inspected and tested, to no avail.

The big break came when a waitress at the restaurant was rushed to the hospital with similar symptoms. She told doctors that she had been on vacation, and had only went to the restaurant to pi ck up her check.
She did not eat or drink while she was there, but had used the restroom.
That is when one toxicologist, remembering an article he had read, drove out to the restaurant, went into the restroom, and lifted the toilet seat.
Under the seat, out of normal view, was a small spider. The spider was captured and brought back to the lab, where it was determined to be the Two-Striped Telamonia (Telamonia dimidiata), so named because of its reddened flesh color. This spider's venom is extremely toxic, but can take several days to take effect. They live in cold, dark, damp climates, and toilet rims provide just the right atmosphere.

2.
Several days later a lawyer from Jacksonville showed up at a hospital emergency room. Before his death, he told the doctor, that he had been away on business, had taken a flight from Indonesia, changing planes in Singapore, before returning home. He did not visit (Ol ive Garden), while there. He did, as did all of the other victims, have what was determined to be a puncture wound, on his right buttock.

Investigators discovered that the flight he was on had originated in India. The Civilian Aeronautics Board (CAB) ordered an immedi! ate insp ection of the toilets of all flights from India, and discovered the Two-Striped Telamonia (Telamonia dimidiata) spider's nests on 4 different planes!

It is now believed that these spiders can be anywhere in the country.





So please, before you use a public toilet, lift the seat to check for spiders. It can save your life!
And please pass this on to everyone you care about."

It also includes a picture of a spider that I couldn't copy. A small yellowish spider with an odd thin, elongated abdomen, white with red stripes.

BTox
19th August 2003, 06:24 PM
Nevermind... should've checked snopes first...

toilet seat spider hoax (http://www.snopes.com/horrors/insects/buttspdr.htm)

arcticpenguin
19th August 2003, 06:26 PM
Odd, you'd think this would have made the news. Yet I did a search in "Google news" for telamonia and it found no articles at all. Same for Yahoo News.

arcticpenguin
19th August 2003, 06:28 PM
Two-striped telamonia (http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/guidebooks/spiders/text/Telamonia_dimidiata.htm)

Habitat: Foliage in wooded environments


This site might be more informative: Return of the butt spiders (http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/blspider-2002.htm)

WildCat
19th August 2003, 06:52 PM
BOX OF SPIDERS (http://www.drivebytruckers.com/lyrics-boxofspiders.html)
(Hood/Drive-by Truckers)

Gran Gran keeps a box of spiders.
She says they're on me when I sleep.
Waiting in the out-house for me.
underneath the seat.
My great-grandmothers bout ninety-seven
and she is sure when she gets to heaven,
old St. Peter's gonna throw his arms around her and say
'I've waited so long for us to meet'.
She put the General in a box
and buried him behind the Stoney Point Church of Christ,
when I was three.
(and she says) "When the lord comes to take me,
I'll die with a smile on, cause He's taking all my pains and fears."
She said The Generals last words were
"It's hotter than hell in here".
Gran Gran keeps a box of spiders,
or so she told me as a child,
and I would hold it in for hours.
Too mean to die. Too mean to die. Too mean.
:D :D :D :D :D

tracer
20th August 2003, 12:01 AM
So, does the Two-Striped Telamonia spider actually have a venom that's lethal to adult humans, and which takes several days to take effect?

peptoabysmal
20th August 2003, 12:28 AM
Originally posted by tracer
So, does the Two-Striped Telamonia spider actually have a venom that's lethal to adult humans, and which takes several days to take effect?

I doubt it. Most small jumping spiders don't have venom that is extremely toxic to humans. Also, it didn't come from Australia, where every darn thing is poisonous (joke).

Hexxenhammer
20th August 2003, 08:15 AM
I say it was the Olive Garden. That place is toxic.

Michael Redman
20th August 2003, 09:16 AM
Looks like a hoax? Any seemingly important news story that is ignored by the media, but transmitted by spam, is clearly a hoax.

Attrayant
20th August 2003, 10:44 AM
Why is a spider living under a toilet seat in the first place? I can't imagine they'd find much to eat under there. Not a good place to set up a web, either.

Saran wrap is good for a few laffs, though.

Dancing David
20th August 2003, 12:22 PM
This is very reminiscent of the snake in the coats at the K-Mart story, new spin on an old urban legend.

teddygrahams
20th August 2003, 06:00 PM
How did these poor spiders reproduce before toilet seats were invented ?

tracer
21st August 2003, 01:41 PM
Originally posted by Michael Redman
Looks like a hoax? Any seemingly important news story that is ignored by the media, but transmitted by spam, is clearly a hoax.
One thing I always seem to find in every e-mail hoax is a line like the following:

"please pass this on to everyone you care about."

or

"Please forward this e-mail to everyone on your mailing list!"

These are dead giveaways. This is the mechanism by which the hoax is spread. Genuine warnings rarely carry such instructions.

The Central Scrutinizer
21st August 2003, 08:21 PM
Originally posted by BTox
Nevermind... should've checked snopes first...

toilet seat spider hoax (http://www.snopes.com/horrors/insects/buttspdr.htm)

ALWAYS check snopes first! Don't make me smack you around!

Or do what I do - assuming any "true" story you receive via email is a hoax. I always reply to them in that way. In 7 years of internet access, I haven't been wrong yet.

BTox
21st August 2003, 09:07 PM
Yeah, I know. This one came from my older brother, a chem engineer who is usually smells a hoax a mile away...

BillyJoe
24th August 2003, 04:17 AM
Originally posted by peptoabysmal
Also, it didn't come from Australia, where every darn thing is poisonous (joke). Okay, I'll let you go this time. :cool: