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Project Noah Nature School
Loxosceles reclusa
This small spider (less than 1 cm including legs) climbed out of a pillowcase & up my arm as I was changing the bed linen in our guest bedroom. Suspecting that it was a venomous brown recluse I went downstairs & very carefully moved it into an plastic carton so I could safely take a few photos, which clearly show the 'violin' pattern on the thorax typical of this species. Luckily for me, though venomous the brown recluse is rarely aggressive unless threatened though I'm not sure I will tell the friends that slept in that bed last night about their uninvited bed fellow!
Spotted on Dec 28, 2011
Submitted on Dec 28, 2011
5 Comments
Added to new Spiders of Tennessee mission - http://www.projectnoah.org/missions/9135...
Yes, as the name suggests they are reclusive & like to hide in dark places like folded clothes & towels, in between the bedsheets, & in shoes so I am now being much more cautious. I'm really much more concerned about out cats getting bitten as they like to chase & eat any small critters that they find in the house.
Eww...just looking at it feels a little creepy. I have a girlfriend who works in a local doctor's office and last year they treated multiple patients who they believed were bitten by brown recluse. Very scary!
They are very common here but don't seem to cause many problems. Most people who do get bitten disturb them when they are hidden in clothes in closets or in bed sheets. The bites can be nasty though causing necrosis of the flesh surrounding the bite & require hospital treatment.
More scarily we found a female black widow last year during the floods. We think it came inside trying to escape the deluge & found one of the few dry places in our flooded basement - inside one of Luc's shoes! Unfortunately I didn't get a photo of it as at the time we were more concerned at evicting it!
very scary! I don't think these are native to PA fortunately. Too cold!