Steatoda nobilis, a false widow spider was found on a bunch of bananas in Scoriton on Dartmoor on 1st September 2007.This species comes from the Canary Islands but is often imported into this country on bananas and other fruit.
It has started to colonise this country in recent years and this is thought to be a response to climate change.
This is a poisonous species which can inflict an unpleasant and venomous bite. Recently someone in Dorset was hospitalised for three days after an encountered.
The specimen in the picture is a female and the abdomen is around 8mm. It is a very distinctive species displaying a 'tuning fork' mark and a frontal pale band on the abdomen.
The BBC have recently covered the range expansion of this species in Britain, see here. Additional information on the species in Devon can be found on the Plymouth University website.
