BEWARE:Hoax Two-Striped Telamonia (Telamonia dimidiata); spiders

Please pay attention to this article. It is of utmost  importance.  

Three women in KL turned up at  hospitals over a 5-day period,
all with the same symptoms - fever, chills,  vomiting, followed by muscular collapse, paralysis and finally,death.
There were no outward signs of trauma. Autopsy results  showed toxicity in the blood. These women did not know each other, and  seemed to have nothing in common.

It was discovered, however, that they  had all visited a same restaurant along Jalan Kuchai Lama within days of their  deaths. The health department descended on the restaurant, shutting it down. The  food, water and air conditioning were all inspected and tested, to no  avail.

The big break came when a waitress at the restaurant was  rushed to the hospital with similar symptoms. She told doctors that she had been  on vacation, and had only went to the restaurant to pick up her check. She did  not eat or drink while she was there, but had used the restroom.

That  is when one toxicologist, remembering an article he had read, drove up to the  restaurant, went into the restroom and lifted the toilet seat. Under the seat,  out of normal view, was a small spider. The spider was captured and brought back  to the lab,where it was determined to be the Two-Striped Telamonia (Telamonia  dimidiata), so named because of its reddened flesh color. This spider's venom is  extremely toxic but can take several days to take effect. They live in cold,  dark, damp climates, and toilet rims provide just the right  atmosphere.

Several days later, a lawyer from JB showed up at a  hospital emergency room.. Before his death, he told the doctor that he had been  away on business, had taken a flight from Indonesia , changing planes in   Singapore , before returning home. He did not visit the restaurant while there.  He did, as did all of the other victims, have what was determined to be a  puncture wound, on his right buttock.

Investigators discovered that  the flight he was on had originated in India .. The Civilian Aeronautics Board  (CAB) ordered an immediate inspection of the toilets of all flights from India ,  and discovered the Two-Striped Telamonia (Telamonia dimidiata) spider's nests on  four different planes!

It is now believed that these spiders can be  anywhere in the country. So please, before you use a public toilet, lift the  seat to check for spiders.

It can save your life! And please pass this on  to everyone you care about.

P Susthitha Menon (Susi)
Photonics  Technology Laboratory
Department of Electrical, Electronics and System  Engineering
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
( National University of   Malaysia )
43600 UKM Bangi
Selangor Darul  Ehsan.


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Email hoax

In 2002, the spider became the subject of an email hoax claiming that it was a fatal spider found lurking under toilet seats in North Florida. This hoax was a rehashing of an older email circulated in 1999 with similar claims, except under the name "South American Blush Spider (arachnius gluteus[sic])" - literally "butt spider". Similar email hoaxes (with details of the original changed here and there) have been found in other parts of the world claiming that the same thing happened in that country. No such events appear to have occurred, and the story is considered an urban legend.^[2][3][4] The spider poses no danger to humans. you can double check info in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telamonia_dimidiata so please becareful~