It is hairy, large and has eight legs: the Nosferatu spider has been spreading more and more in Germany for several years. “Zoropsis spinimana” has also arrived in North Rhine-Westphalia. Since August 1 alone, 1,300 sightings of 1,700 specimens in NRW have been reported on the “Naturgucker.de” portal, said Thorsten Wiegers, spokesman for the nature conservation association NABU NRW. This shows that the spider has almost become at home in this country.
Nosferatus bite is poisonous, but harmless to humans, Wiegers said. If she bites a person, it is comparable to a light wasp sting. But she only does this if she sees herself in danger. The spider is mainly found where it is warm – so like on and in buildings. The animals with a body length of up to two centimeters and a leg span of about five centimeters do not catch their prey in nets, but pursue it.
The invasive species, which belongs to the spider spider family, originally comes from the Mediterranean region and was probably brought to Germany as a “stowaway” in freight traffic. The spider was first discovered there in 2005 in Freiburg im Breisgau. She owes her name to the characteristic drawing on her back, which is reminiscent of the character “Nosferatu” from the first major film adaptation of the horror novel “Dracula”.
