Black Widow Spiders Found at Naval Shipyard in Maine

Bath Iron Works, a Navy shipbuilder, said that they were forced to fumigate a warehouse and part of a warship after they discovered part of a shipment from the West Coast contained about two-dozen venomous black widow spiders at their shipyard in Maine. 

Employees of Bath Iron Works, owned by General Dynamics Corp., discovered the venomous arachnids in a crate that was carrying components for vertical launch systems.  Spokesman for Bath, Jim DeMartini, said on Tuesday that the spider discovered led to the partial fumigation of the USS Michael Murphy, a destroyer under construction at the shipyard, as well as a warehouse in Brunswick.  DeMartini added that the spiders were discovered earlier this month, and that the shipyard is confident all have been eliminated.

Black widow spiders pack a potentially lethal bite, and are distinctively known for their females having a hourglass marking on their abdomen.  They are also not native to Maine, but are to California where the shipment originated.