Wikipedia:Main Page history/2013 December 19

The redback spider is a species of venomous spider indigenous to Australia. It is a member of the cosmopolitan genus Latrodectus, the widow spiders. The adult female has a black body with a prominent abdominal red stripe (pictured). Females have a body length of about 10 millimetres (0.4 in), while the male is much smaller, being only 3–4 mm (0.12–0.16 in) long. Mainly nocturnal, the female lives in an untidy-looking web in a warm sheltered location, commonly near or inside human residences. It preys on insects, spiders and small vertebrates that become ensnared in its web. Males and spiderlings often live on the periphery of the female's web and steal leftovers. The redback is one of few arachnids that usually display sexual cannibalism while mating. It is widespread in Australia, and inadvertent introductions have led to established colonies in New Zealand, Japan and in greenhouses in Belgium. The redback is one of the few spider species that can be seriously harmful to humans. An antivenom has been available since 1956, and there have been no deaths directly due to redback bites since its introduction. (Full article...)

Recently featured: Joseph Grimaldi – Nefarious: Merchant of Souls – Adelaide Anne Procter

From Wikipedia's new and recently improved content:

• ... that the sängerfest (postcard pictured) origins can be traced to educator Carl August Zeller and composer Hans Georg Nägeli, protégés of Swiss pedagogue Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi?
• ... that Xiu Xiu's upcoming Angel Guts: Red Classroom was influenced by the Japanese erotic film of the same name and its frontman's move to a dangerous area of Los Angeles?
• ... that the sale of Saying Grace has left an "irreplaceable hole" in the Norman Rockwell Museum's collection, according to the museum's director?
• ... that the female footballer Bilgin Defterli decided to go to Germany because she saw no chance to play football in Turkey due to the dissolution of women's football leagues in 2003?
• ... that Macau's Time Capsule is scheduled to be opened on December 19, 2049?
• ... that Tom Bayer, formerly serving in the United States Army, gave up his U.S. citizenship to become a citizen of Vanuatu?
• ... that astronomers at the Jesuit College of Ingolstadt hesitated to report sunspots since Jesuits thought the sun was "virginal"?

• A new species of tapir, Tapirus kabomani, is identified in the Amazon.
• Following a federal election in Germany, a third cabinet under chancellor Angela Merkel (pictured) is inaugurated with a grand coalition.
• Michelle Bachelet is elected as President of Chile for a second non-consecutive term.
• A reported coup attempt in South Sudan leads to continued fighting and hundreds of casualties.
• Chang'e 3, carrying the Yutu rover, becomes the first spacecraft to land on the Moon since 1976.
• North Korean media announce the execution of senior government official Jang Sung-taek.

Recent deaths: Ronnie Biggs – Joan Fontaine – Peter O'Toole

December 19: Liberation Day in Goa (1961)

• 1154 – Henry II was crowned King of England in London's Westminster Abbey.
• 1843 – A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (pictured), a novella about the miser Ebenezer Scrooge and his transformation after being visited by three Christmas ghosts, was first published.
• 1956 – Irish-born British physician John Bodkin Adams was arrested in connection with the suspicious deaths of more than 160 of his patients, although he was only convicted on minor charges.
• 1981 – Sixteen lives were lost when a Penlee lifeboat went to the aid of the stricken coaster Union Star in heavy seas off the south-west coast of England.
• 1986 – Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev released dissident Andrei Sakharov after six years of internal exile in Gorky.
• 1998 – The U.S. House of Representatives impeached President Bill Clinton following the Lewinsky scandal.

More anniversaries: December 18 – December 19 – December 20