Articles | Volume 7, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/pb-7-13-2020
https://doi.org/10.5194/pb-7-13-2020
Short communication
 | 
04 Sep 2020
Short communication |  | 04 Sep 2020

Unintended importation of tropical jumping spiders (Salticidae) into a laboratory monkey colony via banana supply

Roland Plesker and Jürgen Berger

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Cited articles

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Harrison, J. O.: Some spiders associated with banana plants in Panama, Ann. Entomol. Soc. Am., 61, 878–884, 1968. 
Lucas, S. M. and Meier, J.: Biology and Distribution of Spiders of Medical Importance. Chapter 19, in: Handbook of Clinical Toxicology of Animal Venoms and Poisons, edited by: White, J. and Meier, J., CRC Press, Boca Raton, 239–258, https://doi.org/10.1201/9780203719442, 2017. 
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Mullen, G. R. and Vetter, R. S.: Chapter 25 – Spiders (Araneae), in: Medical and Veterinary Entomology, edited by: Mullen, G. R. and Durden, L. A., Academic Press, London, New York, 507–531, https://doi.org/10.1016/C2017-0-00210-0, 2019. 
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Short summary
This report describes a case of unintended importation of tropical baby jumping spiders to a laboratory monkey colony. The spiders were detected in a cocoon attached to a banana for monkey consumption. In identifying the family of spiders as jumping spiders (Salticidae), it turned out that these spiders would not have been venomous to humans and they most likely would not have had the potential to establish a new spider colony in the facility.
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