Brown recluse spiders

A community portal about Brown recluse spiders with blogs, videos, and photos. According to Wikipedia.org: The brown recluse spider is a venomous spider, Loxosceles reclusa, of the family Sicariidae. It is usually between ¼ and ¾ inch... [more]

A community portal about Brown recluse spiders with blogs, videos, and photos. According to Wikipedia.org: The brown recluse spider is a venomous spider, Loxosceles reclusa, of the family Sicariidae. It is usually between ¼ and ¾ inch but may grow larger. It is brown and usually has markings on the dorsal side of its cephalothorax, with a black line coming from it that looks like a violin with the neck of the violin pointing to the rear of the spider resulting in the nickname "fiddleback spider" or "violin spider". Coloring varies from light tan to brown and the violin marking may not be visible. Since the "violin pattern" is not diagnostic, and other spiders may have similar marking and pirate spiders ), for purposes of identification it is far more important to examine the eyes. Differing from most spiders, which have 8 eyes, recluse spiders have 6 eyes arranged in pairs with one median pair and 2 lateral pairs. Only a few other spiders have 3 pairs of eyes arranged this way, and recluses can be distinguished from these as recluse abdomens have no coloration pattern nor do their legs, which also lack spines. 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, garages, and other places that are dry and generally undisturbed. Unlike most web weavers, they leave these webs at night to hunt.