Tarantism

Tarantism is a form of hysterical behavior originating in Southern Italy, popularly believed to result from the bite of the wolf spider Lycosa tarantula, though a better candidate cause is the Mediterranean black widow, Latrodectus tredecimguttatus, despite no demonstrated link ever found between such bites and the behavior. The term historically refers to a dancing mania characteristic of Southern Italy that likely had little to do with spider bites at all, and the tarantella dance is supposed to have evolved from a therapy devised for tarantism.