The brown recluse spider has a venomous bite. It is the most common of the brown spiders, but it is only found in the South and Central United States.
People bitten by brown recluse spiders should ice the wound and seek emergency medical treatment, as brown recluse bites can cause necrotic (rotting) skin lesions and lead to serious reactions or even death in some people, especially children. Rick Vetter, a retired research associate of entomology at the University of California, Riverside, wrote that about 90 percent of brown recluse bites are not medically significant. People with less severe bites usually heal quickly after applying the RICE method to the area, which includes rest, ice, compression and elevation.
The brown recluse spider is native to a region that includes Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Mississippi, Alabama and parts of Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska. If you don't live in those areas, it's highly likely that you have a spider.
The brown recluse is a spider. According to Oklahoma State University, members of this group have violin-shaped markings on the top of their cephalothorax and may be referred to as fiddleback or violin spiders.
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Depending on the age of the spider, the brown recluse's violin markings can vary in intensity, with mature spiders having dark brown violin shapes. The violin shape points toward the spider's abdomen. The violin shape is easy to misinterpret, so it is best to look at the eyes to determine if a spider is brown recluse.
The recluse has six eyes, instead of eight, which is one of its most distinctive physical characteristics. Other types of spiders have rows of eyes. In a semicircle around the front of the cephalothorax, there are three pairs of dyads.
The brown recluse spider has a uniformly colored abdomen, which is covered in fine hairs, giving it a silky appearance. Their legs are covered in fine hairs, unlike some non-recluse spiders. According to the Integrated Pest Management Program at The University of California, Berkeley, the scientific name is Loxosceles, which means "slanted legs", and refers to the fact that recluse spiders hold their legs in a slanting position when at rest.
According to Oklahoma State University, the brown recluse has a body that is between 0.25 and 0.5 inches long.
According to the Integrated Pest Management Program, brown recluses have all five features.
The Taxonomy of brown recluse spiders can be found in the Integrated Taxonomic Information System.
Bills said that the brown recluse gets its name from itsshy nature and that most spiders go out of their way to avoid humans.
According to the Integrated Pest Management Program, these primarily nocturnal spiders build webs that serve as shelters as well astrigger systems, alerting them when prey is passing nearby so they can actively hunt it down. According to Oklahoma State University, they eat insects such as silverfish and crickets. If brown recluses are near humans, they may camp out in places such as shoes or around trash cans, but in nature, they may find refuge in rock cracks and crevices. Male brown recluse spiders may cross paths with humans when searching for females.
The Integrated Pest Management Program says that brown recluse spiders are synanthropic, or found in association with humans, and they are considered house spiders.
According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, brown recluse spiders get around by hitchhiking on furniture boxes and other items. These long-lived spiders, who live an average of 2 to 4 years in the wild and up to 7 years in laboratories, have remarkable survival skills and can go for six to 12 months without eating. During the egg laying season in April to July, a female brown recluse can produce up to 150 spiderlings in a year and up to five egg sacs in her lifetime, but only if she mates once. A single female hitchhiking into a human-made structure is enough to establish an outbreak of the spider.
Brown recluses are difficult to control once established. Hundreds of brown recluses may be present in a house, but they may not be easily observed because of their nocturnal habits. If you see one brown recluse spider, chances are there are more nearby.
In the early 1970s, 52 spiders were found at a dilapidated homesite in Mississippi, and 44 were caught in traps under a couch in Tennessee in 24 hours, according to the Integrated Pest Management Program. In a wild case, eight 13-year-olds collected about 60 brown recluse spiders from a pile of bricks in Oklahoma, but none of the children were bitten.
A family living in a 19th-century home in Kansas collected more than two thousand brown recluse spiders during a six-month period in 2001. The family lived in the house for about 10 years, and although they found a lot of brown recluse spiders, they only had one instance of someone getting bitten.
Like most spiders, the brown recluse only bites when disturbed, but it's possible to threaten them. If a spider is caught in bedding or clothing, this may happen.
Some people remember feeling a sharp sting if they were bitten by the brown recluse. Sometimes bites become painful within a few hours. The bite may cause mild to severe reactions in children.
Bills said people react differently to bites. According to Vetter, 10% of brown recluse bites cause moderate or greater tissue damage. The majority of bites result in inflammation and can heal on their own.
Michael F. Potter is an extension entomologist at the University of Kentucky College. These bites can develop a blisters. The wound may expand over the next few days or weeks if the venom starts to destroy the surrounding tissue. A necrotic ulcer can leave a deep scar, Potter wrote.
Symptoms of a brown recluse bite can include itching, chills, fever, nausea, sweating, and a general feeling of uneasiness or sickness. There are more severe symptoms that include coma, blood in urine, yellow skin and the whites of the eyes.
In rare cases, the bite can cause systemic loxoscelism, a severe illness that involves a blood clotting disorder and destruction of red blood cells. He said that in severe cases, treatment requires hospitalization, blood transfusions and other supportive measures.
There is no approved antivenom for the United States. If you're bitten, Medline Plus says to call the emergency room or poison control.
You should wash the bite area with soap and water, then put ice on it for 10 minutes, according to the National Institute of Health. For 10 minutes, remove the washcloth.
If possible, bring the spider to the emergency room.
According to the Integrated Pest Management Program, to decrease your chances of becoming a host to these six-eyed spiders, remove or reduce outdoor trash and unneeded outdoor structures, such as wood piles or boxes, especially those near the house. caulk, foam, weather stripping, and other materials can be used to seal cracks around doors, electrical conduits, and plumbing fixtures to prevent spiders from entering the house.
If you are in brown recluse territory, you should move your bed away from the wall and remove bed skirts. These moves will reduce the chance that a brown recluse will bite you during the night. Make sure to shake the clothes and shoes out of the floor before putting them on. In tightly sealed bags or bins, store gardening gloves and baseball mitts.
There are sticky traps on floor boards that can be used to catch brown recluse spiders. Spiders can be difficult to find during the day and chemical control can be difficult. Potter wrote for the UK entomology department that if used, liquid, aerosol and dust-based insecticides should be applied to cracks and other places where the spiders might be hiding. Long sleeves, pants, and gloves can help protect you when you are working outdoors because brown recluse fangs are short and cannot bite through clothing.
Live Science originally published it on Nov. 14, 2014; it was updated on Feb. 18, 2022.
The University of California Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program produced a video on how to catch a spider.
There is more information about brown recluse spiders on the website.
There are ways to protect yourself from brown recluse spider bites.
There is a Medline Plus. The National Library of Medicine. The spider is brown. Reviewed on June 30, 2019.
Rick Vetter. How to identify a brown recluse spider. January 2005.
Rick Vetter. There is a map of the brown recluse spider.
Oklahoma State University. Brown Recluse or Fiddleback Spider is a spider.
Rick Vetter. The University of California, Berkeley has an Integrated Pest Management Program. There are brown Recluse and other Recluse Spiders. Revised in November.
The Integrated Taxonomic Information System is a report. The word reclusa is derived from the Latin word liosceles. February 16, 2022.
The Department of Public Health in Illinois. The brown recluse and black widow spider are related.
Michael F. Potter. The University of Kentucky College of Agriculture. The Recluse Spider is brown. Revised on July 12.
Texas A&M has an extension. The field guide to common Texas insects is called Brown Recluse.
Robinson, J.R. and his co-authors define the complex phenotype of severe systemic loxoscelism using a large electronic health record cohort.
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