Wasps (Vespula vulgaris)
Hornets (Vespa crabro)
Various bees
A dozen species of spider (nothing with a bite that’s very dangerous to humans)
Adders
A few stinging jellyfish (and occasional Portuguese Portuguese man o’ war, which is not a jellyfish)
Weever fish
Water shrews (a mammal with a venomous bite)
SE Minnesota. timber rattlesnakes are here, but are uncommon (I have seen one)
There is also the eastern massasauga
Looks like I might be too far north for brown recluses
Various wasps, hornets, and bees (and of course industrial strength mosquitoes)
Southern New Mexico. When I was in college, I had a friend from Washington. He once told me,
Wasps.
Scorpions.
Centipedes.
Black Widow spiders.
Rattlesnakes.
Gila monsters are theoretically possible, but I have never seen one.
Africanized bees have been recorded in the area.
Brown recluse spiders are occasionally sighted, but they are not native to the area. They are usually transients who hitched a ride on truck or a railroad car.
The actual venomous critters usually try to avoid humans. Disease-carrying rodents and mosquitos are a bigger threat. We have plague, hantavirus, West Nile virus, and we’re in the worry zone for Zika virus.
New England
We’ve got rattlesnakes, supposedly. I’ve never seen one.
black widow and brown recluse spiders
wasps and bees.
Jellyfish
I’ve been stung by wasps many times, but that’s about it. Even when I lived out West, and was potentially prey for tarantulas, scorpions, Gila monsters, and various rattlers (especially when I was camping in Southern Utah) I was never even approached. The closest I came was seeing tarantulas – one in Southern Utah (where its ballet-like motions entranced by spider-phobic girlfriend) and one in a parking lot in Salt Lake City. No danger at all.
To be serious, aside from a few wasp stings and jellyfish stings, my biggest problem with poisonous life has been an attack by Poison Sumac, which forced me to apply lotion every day for a couple of weeks.
Apart from the Weever fish, and likely a slightly different mix of jellyfish, that’s the same for Scotland.
Not venomous as such, but some bat species can carry a rabies variant, but human infection is really extremely rare - one domestic case in the last century rare.
According to a snake book I recently read, the range for cottonmouths/water moccasins includes most of NJ – but I have yet to see one (and that’s okay!) I’ve encountered water and garter snakes and recently had a little funeral for a baby Eastern milksnake I found dead in the forest.
There are three species of rattlesnake that live in New York. The copperhead lives downstate. The timber rattler lives throughout the state. The massasauga is the rarest and there are only two areas where it can be found - but one of them happens to be where I live. All three species are rare and I’ve never heard of anyone encountering a rattlesnake.
Two species of yellow sac spiders (Cheiracanthium mildei and Cheiracanthium inclusum) are the only poisonous spiders that live in New York. There’s an ongoing dispute over brown recluse spiders; scientists say they don’t live in New York but many people report they’ve encountered them. My belief is most non-experts don’t know enough about spiders to make a definitive identification so I tend to believe the scientists.
Water moccasins & copperheads all around in the boonies. They SAY there are no rattlesnakes (I’m in Southern Indiana) but… just south of us across the Ohio River, there are rattlesnakes. Just North of us in Brown County, there are rattlesnakes. Why would there be a gap with no rattlesnakes?
No, I agree completely. Hummingbirds are the meanest bastards in the animal kingdom. The Aztec’s god of war and blood sacrifice was the Southern Hummingbird. It was the most ferocious creature they knew.
What Battle Pope said plus blue ringed octopus, various forms of jellyfish ranging from immediately lethal to painful, stonefish, cone shells, innumerable ants, wasps etc with non-lethal bites, various snakes including the two most deadly…
… and drop bears. Many people don’t realise that drop bears are poisonous, because there are no recorded instances of them using their venom. This is thought to be because they find it more satisfying and quicker to shred you apart with their claws and fangs.