Skip to main content
Brazilian Wandering Spider (Phoneutria nigriventer)
Extreme survivor
87Six Legs
Bug Bite · From the file on Brazilian Wandering Spider

Banana-shipment incidents bring wandering spiders to grocery stores in Europe and North America hundreds of times each year.

AgencyInternational Society of ToxinologyVerified by sources
Read the full file on Brazilian Wandering Spider

More Extreme survivor bites

Eciton Army Ant (Eciton burchellii)
Extreme survivor
Six Legs81

Army-ant queens are blind, wingless, and so bloated with eggs they can produce 300,000 in a single 'reproductive bivouac' phase.

Eciton Army AntVerified by sources
Asian Giant Hornet (Vespa mandarinia)
Extreme survivor
Six Legs86

First detected in North America in 2019 in British Columbia. As of 2024, eradication efforts in Washington State were declared successful.

Asian Giant HornetVerified by sources
Common Bed Bug (Cimex lectularius)
Extreme survivor
Six Legs79

An adult bed bug can survive over a year without feeding — at low temperatures, even longer.

Common Bed BugVerified by sources
Common Bed Bug (Cimex lectularius)
Extreme survivor
Six Legs79

Modern bed bug populations have evolved at least 14 distinct mechanisms of insecticide resistance — most cannot be killed by retail pyrethroid sprays.

Common Bed BugVerified by sources
Common Bed Bug (Cimex lectularius)
Extreme survivor
Six Legs79

Bed bugs nearly disappeared from North America by the 1950s, then rebounded dramatically after 2000 — global travel + pyrethroid resistance restored their range within two decades.

Common Bed BugVerified by sources
Bombardier Beetle (Brachinus crepitans)
Extreme survivor
Six Legs80

Toads that swallow bombardier beetles often vomit them back up alive — 43% of swallowed beetles survive a toad's stomach by detonating inside it.

Bombardier BeetleVerified by sources