This tiny brown spider is one of the most feared spiders in the United States. The brown recluse's bite knocks off prey quickly, but it can also harm humans because its venom causes flesh to rot away. The brown recluse especially likes to hide indoors in small, dark spaces, so people don't even see the spider until after the creature has done its damage.
Small but Deadly: The brown recluse's fangs are tiny, but are sharp enough to pierce flesh. The spider's jaws open sideways and close tightly to pinch into a victim's skin so they can inject a toxic cocktail.
Show Some I. D.: This small spider is easy to miss, but isn't hard to identify when seen. Its dark-brown head is shaped like a violin, and stands out from the light-brown thorax that it is connected to.
Rotten to the Bone[]
This spider comes out from hiding to hunt at night for prey.
The brown recluse's bite is so small that human victims may not notice right away. After a few hours or even a day or two, however, its effects often become huge problems. This spider's venom has the same mix of toxins as that of a rattlesnake. The venom cuts off blood flow to the tissue around the bite. This causes the skin to die, which turns black and flakes off as it rots away. On a person, the wound from a brown recluse's bite can end up measuring six inches across and rot everything in the area down to the bone.
Web Retreat: This spider spins a web, but only uses it as a bed to rest in during the day. At night, the brown recluse prowls around in search of prey. The spider's venom turns the bodies of its insect prey to mush.
Hairy Legs: The brown recluse's legs are hairy all over. Most of the hairs detect vibrations from the ground and in the air made by the movements of other creatures. Tiny clumps of hair on the spider's feet work like suction cups so the spider can crawl over just about any surface.
Collared[]
- After a night of hunting, a brown recluse crawls into a house at sunrise in search of a dark, quiet resting place. It scurries into the closet and curls up underneath the collar of a shirt. A little later, the owner of the house grabs the shirt so he can get ready for work.
- The spider wakes up as the man puts the shirt on, and is startled to find itself out in the open. Without a place to run, the brown recluse uses its only defense-it bites. The spider scurries off, but the man's skin will rot around the bite wound within a few days if not treated soon.
Trading Card[]
Trivia[]
- The Did You Know? section is missing a space after the comma before "but".
- The brown recluse is closely related to the Cave Spider, both being members of the Sicariidae family.