In the course of this conversation we discussed the Brown Recluse species Loxosceles reclusa and their reputation. This brought up a pet peeve of mine. I can throw a stone anywhere in California and hit somebody who knows of someone who has been envenomated by a Brown Recluse Loxosceles reclusa in the state of California.
As I stated earlier in my Venom overview piece there is a large difference between Venom and Poison. This is a fact which the reporter failed to look into as they state “poisonous species of amphibians and reptiles inhabiting Bulgaria” and “Sofia presents the most interesting poisonous snakes.” There are NO poisonous snakes never have been and most likely never will. They then make a statement referring to data regarding the lethal dose for humans. For those who are unaware this is typically attributed to what is known as the LD50 study which means exactly this. A toxin is given to a certain amount of lab animals typically mice when it comes to snake venom. When enough toxin is injected to cause a 50% death rate you get the LD50 result.