It's a Recluse?
By Andrea Peck
Spiders are sneakish creatures. They while away the time, creating great lacey homes. Their constructions are visually delicate, yet determinedly strong. They are unflappable, unmovable. Are they arrogant as they unapologetically flaunt the fact that they are not insects? As they drape their curtain home across your most-used pathway? Despite those leggy legs they resist running off in a tizzy when they see you. They have 8 eyes. You have been noticed. But, it is not becoming to rush off. My dear.
Myth and mystery surround them. Misconceptions.
The brown recluse (Loxosceles reclusa) is the master of deception. It holds the gold medal for least understood arachnid, particularly here in California. We all have a friend of a friend who has been bitten by one. We all know that the brown recluse is the worst, the most treacherous, of the spiky-limbed spider family.
Correct?
Not exactly.
The brown recluse does not live in California. It does not live here. At all. It has visited on occasion, mostly through media such as boxes which have been shipped here from another state where the shady lynx is actually commonplace. The reality is that there have been hardly a handful of incidents involving this notorious character in the last 40 years.
While most spiders have 8 eyes, set in 2 groups of 4, the brown recluse differs in this regard. It has 3 sets of eyes, two in each set (called a dyad), for a total of 6 eyes. The spider is brown with a visible violin shape on its cephalothorax, or the portion of the body where the legs attach. It's much bigger than I had ever heard described. It is as big as a quarter. Huge. Somehow I was under the impression that the vicious beast was almost microscopic.
Ninety percent of brown recluse bites are inconsequential and may even go unnoticed by the victim. Basic first aid which includes Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation (RICE therapy) often does the trick where the bite is significant. There are the cases where the bite does parlay into a major issue, involving necrotic tissue and/or secondary infection. These cases are those that give the little bugger its fearsome reputation and a visit to the emergency room becomes mandatory. Death, though rare, does indeed occur when the bite proves more than the victim can sustain. For the vast majority of us Californians, it is important to remember that the likelihood of being bitten on our own home turf is practically zero. If you find you have been diagnosed as having a brown recluse bite, you might consider that this is commonly misdiagnosed and that another disorder, such as Lyme disease or Staphylococcus or Streptococcus may be the real culprit. This is important to consider because experts (as in the very funny and highly informative attached link) assert that misdiagnosis is rampant.
Well, that is one spider you can cross off your list, unless, of course, you decide to visit a state where the brown recluse is so prevalent that the average homeowner runs across more spiders per hour than California does in 40 years. That is your choice, though and I'm not going to try to tell you not to visit Aunt Mabel.
I don't feel satisfied leaving spidey yet. Next week I will tackle a more potent threat that actually is alive and well in our state and county. Your job is to guess who she is.
http://spiders.ucr.edu/myth.html
Brown recluse spiders are established in 15 states: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas.