Brown Recluse Spiders
Description: Brown Spiders have 6 eyes, arranged as 3 pairs in an arc across the front. Most spiders have 8 eyes, and no other groups have the eyes placed in the same pattern as the Brown Recluse spiders. The name “violin” or “fiddleback” comes from the dark violin-shaped pattern on the top of these spiders, and it often is very distinct.
Biology: Their kind of venom is essentially a digestive venom, and once injected into a human it remains in the area of the bite for a very long time, killing and digesting the cells in that area. The result can be an open, ulcerating sore that cannot seem to heal, opening the pathway for an infection that could spread to other parts of the body.
Habits: Recluse spiders build irregular webs that frequently include a shelter consisting of disorderly threads. These spiders frequently build their webs in woodpiles and sheds, closets, beds, garages, cellars and other places that are dry and generally undisturbed. They seem to favor cardboard when dwelling in human residences, possibly because it mimics the rotting tree bark which they inhabit naturally. They also have been encountered in shoes, inside dressers, in bed sheets of infrequently used beds, in stacks or piles of clothes, behind baseboards and pictures, and near sources of warmth when ambient temperatures are lower than usual. Human-recluse contact often is when such isolated spaces are disturbed and the spider feels threatened. Unlike most web weavers, they leave these webs at night to hunt. Males will move around more when hunting, while the female spiders tend to remain nearer to their webs.
Learn More about Other Spiders:
WOLF SPIDERS, HOBO SPIDERS, BLACK WIDOW SPIDERS, HOUSE SPIDERS, GARDEN SPIDERS, JUMPING SPIDERS, SAC SPIDERS