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Australia hosts a dizzying regalia of deadly creature — including spiders , snakes , jellyfish , octopus , ants , bee andeven platypuses .
But why do so many Australian creature wield this bioweapon ?
Sydney funnel-web spiders have killed people with their venom. But does Australia have more than its fair share of venomous animals?
Many of these beasties precede Australia as a continent . But it ’s another story withvenomous snakes , which arrived after the continent arose .
Australia became a disjoined landmass about 100 million age ago when it rive from the southerly supercontinent Gondwana , saidKevin Arbuckle , an associate prof of evolutionary life science at Swansea University in the U.K. The venomous louse lineage is two to three times older than this legal separation , he distinguish Live Science in an email .
Put another way , some already venomous species but set out amaze on Australia when it became an isolated land mass . poisonous arthropods there admit trap - jaw ants ( genusOdontomachus ) , which can inflict a painful bite ; but these louse also live in other tropical and subtropical regions around the existence , not just Australia . Similarly , Australian bulldog ants ( genusMyrmecia ) , which can at the same time sting and bite , are among the venomous ants in the humankind and have reportedly killed three people since 1936 , accord toGuinness World Records . These deadly ant lineages were already on Gondwana at the time of interval and stayed there once Australia became its own continent .
Sydney funnel-web spiders have killed people with their venom. But does Australia have more than its fair share of venomous animals?
As for spider , funnel shape - web wanderer ( generaHadronycheandAtrax ) are the only entirely Australian I that can kill humans with a venomous bite , Arbuckle said . Male Sydney funnel - web spiders ( Atrax robustus ) are call up to have bolt down 13 masses , although no human dying have been enter since antivenom was introduce in 1981 , according to theAustralian Museum . An Australian species of widow spider , the redback ( Latrodectus hasselti ) , can also vote out with a virulent sting . Their ancestors , too , predate Australia as a freestanding continent .
Likewise , venomous cephalopods , including squid , octopus and cuttlefish , have existed for up to 300 million eld . They ’ve survive in the circumvent waters for eras before Australia existed on its own .
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The eastern brown snake (Pseudonaja textilis) hunts with both venom and constriction. It’s thought to have migrated from New Guinea to Australia during the Pleistocene epoch.
Another part of this resolution stretch out back 60 million years to " an accident of history , " according toMichael Lee , a professor of evolutionary biology at the South Australian Museum and Flinders University . Back then , continental impulsion push Australia over the wintry South Pole , which wipe out most of its reptile . When the continent slow drift northward , it warm up and draw reptile once again . By luck , 40 million years after this " accident , " the first snakes colonise the continent — and they happened to be from the venomous front - fanged Elapidae fellowship , which includes cobras , mambas , coral snakes and taipans . They became the land ’s snake ancestors , which then evolved into more venomous snakes .
Of Australia ’s 220 serpent species , 145 are venomous , Lee told Live Science via email . These virulent serpents account for 65 % of Australia ’s snake universe , though only about 15 % of the earth ’s snake in the grass are venomous .
As for man-of-war , every species is venomous . They also date back over 500 million years and have been blow through the sea since before Australia existed . While mortal box jellyfish ( such asCarukia barnesi ) and Lusitanian man o ' warfare ( Physalia physalis ) lodge in in Australian weewee , Arbuckle emphasized that these creatures populate tropical and subtropical waters , not just those Down Under . They ’re a " not particularly Australian phenomenon , " he said . Rather , Australia ’s coastline fosters an ecosystem fit for these creatures .
enumerate just how many venomous creature Australia hosts is difficult .
" The short solution is band , and credibly more than [ we ] think,“Dieter Hochuli , an ecology professor at the University of Sydney , narrate Live Science in an email .
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apart from snakes , however , Arbuckle argued Australia ’s venomous zoology are actually well within typical range . " Contrary to popular belief , Australia is n’t particularly abundant or diverse in venomous invertebrates , " he told Live Science . " Australia has a unmistakably enduring and prominent image asthehome of extremely venomous brute , yet for the most part this is overstated . "
He wondered if part of this belief stems from the continent ’s " scientific capital " and " fantabulous infrastructure " for public health and aesculapian maintenance .
" Its venomous brute diversity is not unusual at all for a for the most part tropical expanse , " Arbuckle say .
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