Its appearance is unmistakable: a shiny black body with thirteen small red spots. The workers had no doubts when they found the spider in the ravines of the Mediterranean scrub, near the Orientale road, between Tortolì and Bari Sardo, in the Ilbono area.
It was an argia, a venomous spider whose bite can cause serious symptoms such as abdominal cramps, nausea, fever, and, in rare cases, death . Yesterday morning, the team conducting a cleanup operation alerted the Ilbono municipal police, who, after capturing it, took the spider to the Zooprophylactic Institute in Tortolì. Here, after a quick examination, the experts determined it was the so-called Mediterranean black widow, possessing a powerful neurotoxic venom.
"We urge residents to be extremely careful when rummaging through waste or moving fresh produce or other materials in the countryside," warned Ilbono Mayor Giampietro Murru. According to legend, when God decided to rid Sardinia of all poisonous creatures, he annihilated thousands of them. But non s'argia, which for the Sardinians is the only one to survive God's extermination of the island's venomous animals, is a rare animal.
Its myth is shrouded in mystery. According to an ancient culture, the poisonous spider gave its name to a magical healing ritual. The dance of the argia was the only life-saving remedy after a bite. The ailment it caused could only be treated by the dance of an equal number of women: seven widows, seven brides, and seven spinsters. A ritual common to several towns on the island until the second half of the last century.
