Field Guide to Venomous and Medically Important Invertebrates ...

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The common moon jellyfish, Aurelia aurita, is generally considered to be harmless. However, this species occasionally has been known to sting people in the Gulf of Mexico. Stings cause instant local pain that may last for up to 30 minutes with residual pain lasting for several days afterward. Shortly after the envenomation, hives may appear around the wound sites followed by ulceration. Encrusted lesions become obvious within a few days and post-inflammatory darkly pigmented skin may still be visible for up to two weeks after the sting. Figure 228. Moon jellyfish (Aurelia aurita). Photo: Herb Segars. Another common jellyfish known as east coast sea nettle (Chrysaora quinquecirrha) occurs from Cape Cod south along the U.S. East Coast and throughout the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, and it has been introduced to the Black Sea in Europe. It commonly occurs near the confluence of coastal tributaries and bays where salinities range from 10-20 ppt. Specimens generally are white in appearance although in some areas they have prominent maroon-colored markings. The stings of sea nettle are painful, but they are not considered to be life threatening. A related species, the west coast sea nettle, Chrysaora fuscescens, produces equally painful stings. This species often occurs in massive swarms, and near shore aggregations are most common during fall and winter months. West coast sea nettles have a distinctive golden-brown bell (up to 30 cm diameter). The whitish oral arms and thin maroon tentacles may trail behind these jellyfish for several meters. West coast sea nettles are common in the northern Pacific Ocean, but they are broadly distributed from British Columbia to Mexico. Black sea nettle, Chrysaora achlyos, similarly produces painful stings. This species has a distinctive purplish-colored bell and pinkish tentacles. It is distributed from southern Baja California to Monterey Bay, California. Figure 229. East coast sea nettle (Chrysaora quinquecirrha). Photo: Mary Hollinger.
Figure 230. West coast sea nettle (Chrysaora fusescens). Photo: Scott Messmore. The sea wasp or box jellyfish, Chironex fleckeri, is distributed throughout the Indo-Pacific ocean. This jellyfish has been described as the most venomous creature on the planet and it has been implicated in the death of over 70 victims throughout its range, although primarily around Australia. Children are particularly vulnerable to the sting of this species. The months of November to May are generally considered unsafe for swimming in tropical Pacific waters due to the presence of this jellyfish and also the Irukandji (see below). Despite claims to the contrary, the introduction of ―stinger nets‖ in an attempt to provide safe swimming areas has not been satisfactory and several cases of stings occur each year from within netted enclosures. Chironex prefer calm waters and tend to congregate near estuaries. They are restricted to within 1.2 miles (2 km) of the shore and are almost never found in open waters. Most stings occur on humid days when the water is calm. On windy days, they drift down to calmer and deeper waters below the choppy surface where unsuspecting swimmers can tread on them. Figure 231. Box jellyfish (Chironex fleckeri). Photo: source unknown. Severe pain is a predominant feature of a Chironex sting peakin in intensity at 15 minutes but persisting for up to 12 hours. Rapid heartbeat and high blood pressure that begin at the onset of envenomation are superseded by an unusually slow heartbeat, other heart anomalies, pulmonary edema, and shock resulting from the failure of the heart to pump an adequate amount of blood. Also, neuromuscular paralysis may lead to respiratory arrest. Loss of consciousness may ensue rapidly and death may occur within a few minutes of being stung. The skin characteristically shows a beaded or ladder pattern of red, purple or brown whiplash lesions with a frosty
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Field Guide to Venomous and Medical
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Introduction Types of negative inte
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Other Arthropods Centipedes Millipe
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Threats from invertebrates encompas
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―traumatic‖ may be applied, and
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Surveillance of Medically Important
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Black widow spiders and their relat
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There are several commercially avai
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Approximately 12-24 hours following
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Reactions to envenomation by funnel
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Figure 21. Six-eyed sand spider (Si
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Yellow Sac spiders More than 200 sp
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one South American species, Lycosa
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Mesobuthus tamulus, the common red
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The effects of scorpion venom on pe
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motor skills become impaired. Other
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Larval chiggers actively crawl to t
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Scabies mites produce two general t
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Reactions from the bites of these v
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from pale yellow to reddish-brown.
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longer a tick remains attached, the
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Lice in the families Pediclulidae a
Page 45 and 46: Cockroaches Cockroaches are not med
Page 47 and 48: Although bites of kissing bugs norm
Page 49 and 50: the source of bed bugs. Under norma
Page 51 and 52: norepinephrine that affect the abil
Page 53 and 54: practical, scented sprays, perfumes
Page 55 and 56: Bumble bees and carpenter bees- Alt
Page 57 and 58: are their bodies are commonly disti
Page 59 and 60: Bullet ants are large (~1 inch or 2
Page 61 and 62: which resolves within a few days. S
Page 63 and 64: Certain species (brown-tail moth, t
Page 65 and 66: Blister beetles (Family Meloidae)-
Page 67 and 68: should consider the potential healt
Page 69 and 70: feces or urine. The life cycle of b
Page 71 and 72: Chrysomya bezziana (Calliphoridae),
Page 73 and 74: Wohlfahrtia magnifica (family Sarco
Page 75 and 76: mosquito eggs hatch into larvae wit
Page 77 and 78: Aedes and Ochlerotatus mosquitoes a
Page 79 and 80: of these genera play a secondary ro
Page 81 and 82: and Phlebotomous in the Old World.
Page 83 and 84: effective on the local scale. These
Page 85 and 86: Filth flies (Families Muscidae, Cal
Page 87 and 88: cosmopolitan distributions, can be
Page 89 and 90: Northern rat flea, Nosopsyllus fasc
Page 91 and 92: tetanus or gangrene. Minor surgery
Page 93 and 94: Millipedes Millipedes (Class Diplop
Page 95: distributed largely in marine syste
Page 99 and 100: Carukia barnesi is a small box jell
Page 101 and 102: Figure 235. The ―false box jellyf
Page 103 and 104: The stings of some sea anemones can
Page 105 and 106: fishermen, especially those in Denm
Page 107 and 108: exploration of the wounds may be ne
Page 109 and 110: and continues until the leech is en
Page 111 and 112: Symptoms generally include pain, sw
Page 113 and 114: Recovery may take from hours to wee
Page 115 and 116: Swimmer’s itch (schistosome cerca
Page 117 and 118: United States Centers for Disease C
Page 119 and 120: L. hystrix: Southern Europe, Northe
Page 121 and 122: Sicarius spp.: Zimbabwe, southern A
Page 123 and 124: Family Scorpionidae Opistophthalmus
Page 125 and 126: Ixodes holocyclus (Australian paral
Page 127 and 128: Hymenoptera (ants, bees, wasps, hor
Page 129 and 130: Megalopyge opercularis (Puss caterp
Page 131 and 132: Lucilia (=Phaenicia) cuprina (sheep
Page 133 and 134: Glossina spp. (tse tse fly): Africa
Page 135 and 136: Family Tedaniidae Tedania ignis (fi
Page 137 and 138: Haementeria depressa: South America
Page 139 and 140: Family Bulimidae Oncomelania spp.:
Page 141 and 142: eschar- a sloughing or crusting whi
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Field Guide to Venomous and Medically Important Invertebrates ...

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