I am 100% sure that she is not a brown recluse, or even related to a brown recluse!
The misidentification of spiders is so common, and the misinformation spread about them by the media, hearsay, etc. all ends up with so many innocent spiders- who are totally harmless to humans and pets, being killed on the spot.
Unless you are an entomologist, keep spiders as a hobby, or have a special interest in spiders and their biology, you will probably be 100% wrong 100% of the time if you try to identify a spider.
Superficially, many spiders look the same. Similar colors, patterns, and they all have 8 legs right? But if you look closer there are many, many subtle signs that tell the species apart.
Leg shape, size, and how they hold them. Size of the cephalathorax relative to the abdomen can indicate gender as well as species. The size, shape, and arrangement of the eyes (which can sometimes only be seen with the help of a magnifying glass!). Where the spider was found is another helpful indicator.
So there are all these subtle things to help you identify a species, and unless you are really into spiders like I said… you’re probably wrong.
And I’d really like to address this whole “brown recluses are highly venomous” thing. Yes, their venom is hemotoxic. But bites that actually cause any medical symptoms are rare (yes, you can be bitten and NEVER KNOW IT) and ones that do actually tend to heal by themselves in a few days. And over 80% of problems that medical doctors diagnose as “brown recluse bites” are actually something else. Staph infections, herpes, lyme disease, etc. are all misdiagnosed by actually doctors as brown recluse bites, sometimes despite brown recluses not even living in that state (looking at you, California).
Most bites from brown recluse spiders (Loxosceles reclusa) are “dry” bites, meaning they don’t inject venom. Venom takes energy to create, and a spider might not want to spend energy creating more venom when they can just run away. Which they will try to do. They are not a particularly aggressive or defensive spider, and rarely bite humans. If they do, it is because they are pushed against the skin and feel threatened. And even then, they aren’t likely to inject any venom at all.
I’m not saying that no one has been harmed by them, I’m just saying that their danger has been greatly exaggerated by pretty much everybody.
SO onto my spider! I was looking around at work and now that I’m home I’m not 100% sure because the species I think she is is pretty variable with their pattern, but I’m almost certain that she is Pisaurina mira, a species of Nursery Web Spider. Why do I know for a fact that she isn’t a brown recluse and most likely a Pisaurina sp.? Because of her eyes!
These are the eyes of Loxosceles reclusa. There are three pairs of eyes, with 6 eyes total.
My spider has 8 eyes, in two rows. Unfortunately there is a peice of coco coir in front of half her face of the first picture, but you can clearly see there are not three pairs, and in the second photo you can see the entire top row.
And even just looking at the spider itself, they are pretty different in shape and pattern!
I’d kind of want to live in a house with 2,000 brown recluse spiders. Maybe black widows too. They’d be a great way to scare off door-to-door salespeople!
The spider catches the bee and the bee stings the spider. Both are dead, with the bee’s stinger still in the spider. This is a great example showing why honey bees die after stinging something only once. Their stinger/venom sac are attached to other organs inside the bee, so when the stinger’s barbs lodge into something, everything gets pulled out, potentially including gut, etc and leaving a gaping hole in the bees abdomen. (From Here)
Real talk, this animal (the Ordovician Helmet crab, aka the Horseshoe crab, aka the Atlantic’s most at-risk shelled animal) is of a species that is close to 450 million years old. They are considered endangered, and often wash up on the shores of Long Island (this big lady crab was at TR park in Oyster Bay)
Note: these animals are often used to extract their blue blood and cure diseases. They help the ocean out big time. And they are one of the longest-surviving species on the planet. They’re washing up and people don’t think to/are scared to save them because of their deceivingly harmless barbs.
Take note, friends. Their barbs are NOT stingers. They cannot hurt you. Their pinchers aren’t pinchers, they’re just little legs that are actually really soft! The barb tail they have is actually what they use to stick into the ocean floor or the sand when waves knock them over or they flip onto their backs by accident. And you can help them out by flipping them back over very quickly and helping them scuttle back into the water if you see them struggling.
This is way important. Just call me the Sarah McLachlan of horseshoe crabs.
Hey everyone, as someone who grew up with horseshoe crabs literally everywhere I’d like to bring your attention to these fine, prehistoric bottom-feeders. Growing up in Gerritsen Beach (In Brooklyn, NY) meant seeing dozens upon dozens of horseshoe crabs trapped in fishing lines and shredded sandbags, stuck above the high-tide marks during low tide, and sometimes washed up on the rocks. Which led to probably hundreds of hours cutting them loose every summer during the mating seasons. Horseshoe crabs are 10000% harmless to you and can be easily handled (just don’t dangle them from their tails (known as a telson); that’s painful and you may accidentally rip the tail off and they’ll have to wait until their next molt to grow a new one!).
If you see a horseshoe crab on the beach, gently nudge it with your foot. Most of them will respond by waving their telson around. If it doesn’t respond, flip it over to check for moving limbs. If you suspect it is tangled and can’t move and you can’t bring it straight to the water because of this get a bucket of sea water and slowly pour it over the book gills and legs. As you work to untangle these rad critters, which are actually more closely related to spiders than crabs, pour more water over it periodically until you can return it to the ocean. However, during the mating season horseshoe crabs will attach together, with the large female toting around a smaller male behind her, and bury themselves in sand and mud to lay their eggs. Do not dig up these horseshoe crabs unless you are absolutely sure that they are stuck above the high tide mark. If you see dozens of beached horseshoe crabs but none of them are clinging together and the tide is going out, please do your part and turn them back in the direction of the water. Place them at the water’s edge and let them decide which direction they want to go in to be absolutely sure that they aren’t stranded accidentally.
Horseshoe crabs cannot bite you, and their “pincers” are really just for picking up food and don’t hurt if they try to grab you. They may be a little intimidating-looking but they are harmless and will be grateful for your help.
Just look at all those friendly legs waiting to tickle you in thanks for helping them not die a slow death of baking in the sun and getting eaten by gulls and other sea birds!
Please, protect our bottom feeding horseshoe crabs at all costs. Yes their blood has important medicinal value, being copper-based unlike our iron-based blood, but overharvesting them can have devastating effects on our underwater ecosystems. When being harvested for blood they should actually be returned to the ocean after taking a little, rather than bled dry
Anonymous
