Alright, I tracked down the original source (no links provided in the news article …) and it seems they do mean the noble false widow when they say “common house spider”. Which I guess is technically correct, because it’s a common spider to find in your home (in the UK, Ireland and California, that is).

Anyway, the actual article is quite interesting and above my paygrade as an amateur enthusiast. The first thing that stood out to me was that they said “In addition to their medically significant venom”, refering to Steatoda nobilis. That is not what is widley accepted amonst arachnologists.

So I forwarded it to a friend who is a proper, published arachnologist. He immedietly replied with “Oh, yeah, the Dunbar study”. It seems to be kind of a one-off study so far (there are very few properly documented bites to begin with). The professional called the study “valuable” but also said that he was “sceptical of the interpretation”.

I would add that bites from Steatoda (and Theridiidae in generall, which includes black widows) are very rare and quite easy to avoid. They are very stationay spiders and can stay their entire live in a single web (the females. Males will wander around during mating season, but even amongst the black widows, only the mature females are considered medically significant).

I’ll still happily have Steatoda spiders in my flat with no worries. I know them, they’re cool.