"ARACHNIDS AND ARACHNIDISM IN MEXICO"

The Instituto de Biologia from the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, trough the Coleccion Nacional de Aracnidos (CNAN) is proudly to present the website entitled “Arachnids and Arachnidism in Mexico” with the scope of provide the basic information on the diversity and distribution of arachnids, just as the health problem they represent in the country.

When someone speaks of arachnids, quickly you think about spiders, maybe scorpions and unlikely in ticks and mites. This is because they have been part of humanity since the beginning. Egyptians worship scorpions; Greeks named a constellation on behave of them. However, arachnids are more than just spiders and scorpions, they are also vinagroons, whipspiders, sunspiders, daddy long legs and harvestmen and some other tiny animals.

The arachnids are a group of animals which include up to 100 000 species found in all over the world (mites, spiders and opiliones the most diverse of them). They can be easily recognized from other arthropods, mainly from insects by the presence of 4 pairs of legs (instead of 3 as in insects), by the presence of chelicerae and pedipalps (which are modified in each order). They don’t have antennas (as in crustaceans and insects) or wings.

Their actual importance in the society is mark by the health problem they represent. Some arachnids posses venom which is toxic to human (such as spiders and scorpions). Ticks and mites are important from an agronomical point of view. Nevertheless, the ecological role they play as natural predators of other plagues are even more important.

This webpage has been divided into four sections: a) Scorpions and scorpionism, where you can find general aspect of biology, distribution in the country and all over the world; a quick guide for identification of toxic scorpions, just as information on scorpionism (mortality and morbidity from 1997 to 2007 in Mexico. b) Spiders and their bites, which includes aspects of biology and distribution, along with information of the health problem they represent. c) Research, the homepage of the Coleccion Nacional de Aracnidos from the Instituto de Biologia so you can know about the activities and research programs we carry on. d) Links to general and interesting WebPages on arachnids.

We hope you’ll find this information to be of great useful, any doubts, comments or explanation please don’t hesitate to contact us.

-- Dr. Oscar F. Francke Ballvé --

Curador Colección Nacional de Arácnidos

Instituto de Biología

UNAM