List of venomous animals

Numerous animal species naturally produce chemical toxins which are used to kill or incapacitate prey or as a defense against predators. Venomous animals deliver these toxins as venom through a bite, sting, or other specially evolved mechanism. Poisonous animals, on the other hand, contain or secrete toxins and do not actively deliver them. This list deals exclusively with the former.

Not to be confused with List of poisonous animals.
Many venomous animals, such as this greater blue-ringed octopus (Hapalochlaena lunulata), are brightly colored or can display bright colors to warn potential predators

Venoms have evolved to serve a wide variety of purposes. Their intended effects can range from mild fleeting discomfort to paralysis and death, and they may be highly selective in which species they target, often making them harmless to all but a few specific co-evolved organisms; what may be fatal to one species may be totally insignificant to another species. Because the definition of "venomous" can be extremely broad, this list includes only those animals with venom that is known or suspected to be medically significant for humans or domestic animals.

Invertebrates

Arachnids
Further information: Arachnidism and List of medically significant spider bites

Strictly speaking, all spiders and scorpions possess venom, though only a handful are dangerous to humans. Spiders typically deliver their venom with a bite from piercing, fang-like chelicerae; scorpions sting their victims with a long, curved stinger mounted on the telson.

Spiders
Latrodectus mactans, one of several venomous North American black widows

Scorpions

Of more than a thousand known species of scorpion, only a few dozen have venom that is dangerous to humans,[3] most notably the bark scorpions, including:

Insects
Further information: Insect bites and stings and List of biting or stinging arthropods

Other arthropods

Mollusks
  • Cone snails of the family Conidae are a diverse group of predatory marine gastropods, mostly tropical in distribution, which hunt and immobilize prey using a modified harpoon-like radular tooth that can deliver neurotoxic conopeptides. All cone snails are venomous, though the danger posed to humans varies widely by species.

Cnidarians
  • Jellyfish sting using microscopic cells called nematocysts, which are capsules full of venom expelled through a microscopic lance. Contact with a jellyfish tentacle can trigger millions of nematocysts to pierce the skin and inject venom.[5]
  • Some hydrozoans, including the Portuguese Man o' War (Physalia physalis)
  • Sea anemones
  • Some corals

Cephalopods

Many species of octopus, squid, and cuttlefish make use of venom when hunting their prey.

  • The blue-ringed octopodes (Hapalochlaena spp.) produce tetrodotoxin, which is extremely toxic to even the healthiest adult humans, though the number of actual fatalities they have caused is far lower than the number caused by spiders and snakes, with which human contact is more common.[6]

Vertebrates

Fish
Further information: Venomous fish
Synanceia verrucosa, a species of stonefish, is lined with dorsal spines that deliver an intensely painful and lethal venom. It is sometimes called the most venomous fish in the world.

There are at least 1,200 species of venomous fish, including:

Reptiles

Snakes
The black mamba has one of the deadliest bites of any snake
Further information: Venomous snakes, Snake venom, and Snakebite

Lizards

Amphibians

Though there are numerous poisonous amphibian species capable of secreting lethal toxins through their skin, relatively few amphibians are truly venomous.

Frogs
  • Bruno's casque-headed frog (Aparasphenodon brunoi)
  • Greening's frog (Corythomantis greeningi)

Salamanders

Mammals

Only a few modern mammal species are capable of producing venom; they are likely the last living examples of what was once a more common trait among the mammals. The definition of "venomous" becomes less distinct here, however, and whether some species are truly venomous is still debated.

Dinosaurs

Some scientists have proposed that Sinornithosaurus had a venomous bite, but recent evidence suggests otherwise.[9]

See also

Notes
  1. The venom is produced only by the male and only during the breeding season.

References
  1. Funnel-web Spiders Archived 27 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine at the Australian Museum, Sydney
  2. Jone SC. "Ohio State University Fact Sheet: Brown Recluse Spider". Archived from the original on 16 July 2012. Retrieved 2 September 2006.
  3. "Poisonous Animals: Scorpion (Scorpiones)". library.thinkquest.org. ThinkQuest. c. 2000. Archived from the original on 4 March 2009. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
  4. "Meet the World's Only Known Venomous Crustacean". 8 January 2014.
  5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2 March 2012. Retrieved 3 December 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 18 February 2009. Retrieved 10 February 2009.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. Grady, Denise Venom Runs Thick in Fish Families, Researchers Learn New York Times 22 August 2006.
  8. Ternay, A. "Dangerous and Venomous Aquarium Fish" (PDF). fishchannel.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 July 2014.
  9. Gianechini, F.A., Agnolín, F.L. and Ezcurra, M.D. (2010). "A reassessment of the purported venom delivery system of the bird-like raptor Sinornithosaurus." Paläontologische Zeitschrift, in press. doi:10.1007/s12542-010-0074-9

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