Are brown recluse ever found in Flordia?

[DannyH]

A friend of mine sent me a blurry cellphone picture of what she thinks is a brown recluse, and it could be, but I'm not sure they are found in Florida. Any help?

 

[Ciphor]

A friend of mine sent me a blurry cellphone picture of what she thinks is a brown recluse, and it could be, but I'm not sure they are found in Florida. Any help?

No they are not native, nor capable of establishing in Florida, outside of the most NW corner of the state that borders Alabama.

Coverage map for Loxosceles spp. in the US: http://bugguide.net/node/view/33527

Of course because they are a bordering state to the native population, some do get over to Florida by way of transit, then survive in homes. However once they attempt to leave that home it is game over. Instances like this are uncommon.

99,999 out of 10,000 blurry spider pictures of a brown recluse are not a brown recluse. Just peoples fears taking control, and hoping they get to justify their fear with a captured brown spider.

 

[Anonymity82]

I'm in NC and I constantly here stories about how many brown recluse everybody swears they see.

 

[pitbulllady]

I'm in NC and I constantly here stories about how many brown recluse everybody swears they see.

Same here in SC, and when I have someone send me a pic of a "Brown Recluse" or point one out to me, it's almost always a male(sometimes a female, go figure) K. hibernalis. Sometimes it's something that does not even remotely resemble a Brown Recluse, like Argiope aurantica or a Neoscona sp.. Usually, though, it's good ole K. hibernalis.

pitbulllady

 

[Vespula]

Living in the heart of L. reclusa territory, everyone and their granny seems to think they've been bitten by it. I can't go anywhere and talk about spiders without someone coming up and telling me all about how horrible their or someone else's bite was.

 

[loxoscelesfear]

when Loxosceles do turn up outside their native range it is usually that pesky L. rufescens, the Mediterranean recluse.

 

[Tarac]

Living in the heart of L. reclusa territory, everyone and their granny seems to think they've been bitten by it. I can't go anywhere and talk about spiders without someone coming up and telling me all about how horrible their or someone else's bite was.

I hear it too, all the time and I live where L. reclusa does not occur. More often than not they are describing a skin lesion they are blaming on a spider they wouldn't be able to identify accurately if they saw it anyway. Most people have a Staph infection here, not a spider bite. There are some ~200 reports of recluse bites in the Tampa Bay area each year- it is usually an outbreak of methicillin resistant S. aureus.

There have, however, been a few vouchered specimens collected in Florida but they were all transported and are not established. Also note that there is likely another species of recluse that is now established in South Florida, I think it might be Caribbean in origin.

Here is an article from the local experts:

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/in576

Do not let anyone tell you they were bitten, and if they do and they have an active lesion- STAY AWAY FROM THEM!!! You don't want to catch their nasty antibiotic resistant Staph infection. Tell them that- "it's very likely you have flesh eating bacteria, you should get that checked out or it may result in loss of life or limb"- and they may be more apt to have it checked out rather than just blame an imaginary spider.

 

[pitbulllady]

I hear it too, all the time and I live where L. reclusa does not occur. More often than not they are describing a skin lesion they are blaming on a spider they wouldn't be able to identify accurately if they saw it anyway. Most people have a Staph infection here, not a spider bite. There are some ~200 reports of recluse bites in the Tampa Bay area each year- it is usually an outbreak of methicillin resistant S. aureus.

There have, however, been a few vouchered specimens collected in Florida but they were all transported and are not established. Also note that there is likely another species of recluse that is now established in South Florida, I think it might be Caribbean in origin.

Here is an article from the local experts:

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/in576

Do not let anyone tell you they were bitten, and if they do and they have an active lesion- STAY AWAY FROM THEM!!! You don't want to catch their nasty antibiotic resistant Staph infection. Tell them that- "it's very likely you have flesh eating bacteria, you should get that checked out or it may result in loss of life or limb"- and they may be more apt to have it checked out rather than just blame an imaginary spider.

The problem with having that skin lesion checked out is that many DOCTORS are just as likely to blame an imaginary spider, as well, instead of treating the real cause. I shudder to think of how many limbs and possibly lives could have been saved if doctors would automatically test any skin lesion for MRSA instead of just assuming, "you've been bitten by a Brown Recluse, not much we can do".

pitbulllady

 

[Ciphor]

I'm in NC and I constantly here stories about how many brown recluse everybody swears they see.

I'm in WA and I get to here about brown recluse bites etc.

I'm like... we are literally further away from the brown recluse then any other state in this country... Then there like "Well I talked to a Dr. and he said it was a brown recluse" and of course I'm like "Cool story bro, I talked to my plumber yesterday about changing the spark plugs on my foreign car. Now my car wont start, oh well".

---------- Post added 07-18-2012 at 01:42 PM ----------

The problem with having that skin lesion checked out is that many DOCTORS are just as likely to blame an imaginary spider, as well, instead of treating the real cause. I shudder to think of how many limbs and possibly lives could have been saved if doctors would automatically test any skin lesion for MRSA instead of just assuming, "you've been bitten by a Brown Recluse, not much we can do".

pitbulllady

The problem is systemic, to many assumptions are made in the field of medicine. I think assuming MRSA or Staph can be just as dangerous. Doctors should do the work first, then diagnose, not diagnose then do the work.

I guess the good news is they have that test now that will tell if it is Loxoscelism or not. Just needs to get a lot more widespread in hospitals and Dr. offices.

 

[Tarac]

The problem with having that skin lesion checked out is that many DOCTORS are just as likely to blame an imaginary spider, as well, instead of treating the real cause. I shudder to think of how many limbs and possibly lives could have been saved if doctors would automatically test any skin lesion for MRSA instead of just assuming, "you've been bitten by a Brown Recluse, not much we can do".

pitbulllady

Absolutely!- used to be a very common experience, one I had myself before MRSA was well known. Fighting with both nurses and doctors (here in Florida) about the range of recluse I really learned what the difference between a scientist and a clinician is. One nurse insisted that she used to pick them off patients at the nursing home she worked out in Naples. She literally would not accept the information in the peer reviewed article I gave her. Like somehow she was more of an expert on spiders than the folks that specialized in the field. What a moron.

However most doctors and other medical professionals are well aware of the epidemic now. More over, if you have MRSA and don't go to a doctor then you may as well cut your own leg off (not really, healthy people can usually fight it off naturally- but you don't want to be the one who can't). Best weapon is coming armed with knowledge. If you say you are pretty sure you have a staph infection, they will culture it. So that's why it is important for your health and for the health of the general public to have this information at your disposal.

If you hear about a recluse in Florida, alarms should be going off.

---------- Post added 07-18-2012 at 03:07 PM ----------

The problem is systemic, to many assumptions are made in the field of medicine. I think assuming MRSA or Staph can be just as dangerous. Doctors should do the work first, then diagnose, not diagnose then do the work.

I guess the good news is they have that test now that will tell if it is Loxoscelism or not. Just needs to get a lot more widespread in hospitals and Dr. offices.

Being a medical professional myself I can say that the issue is often that you don't have time to do the work first when a patient comes in with a large necrotic infection that is rapidly destroying tissue. It's a catch 22 indeed- you need to act fast, bacteria have exponential growth, but excessive and inappropriate use of antibiotics is partly what got us something like MRSA in the first place.

You often cannot afford to sit around and wait three days for your bacterial strain to be sequenced. Medicine is always going to be a great deal of guessing because the stakes are high and patients are suffering and time can be the enemy- sometimes inaction is more damaging than a few wrong steps. You need to have a doctor that is educated enough to make reasonable decisions. Easy to blame them when something isn't exactly right because it's hard to conceptualize how incredibly complex our physiology is. On the same note, that's also why it's always good to get a second, third and fourth opinion if it really matters.

 

[Anonymity82]

I'm in WA and I get to here about brown recluse bites etc.

I'm like... we are literally further away from the brown recluse then any other state in this country... Then there like "Well I talked to a Dr. and he said it was a brown recluse" and of course I'm like "Cool story bro, I talked to my plumber yesterday about changing the spark plugs on my foreign car. Now my car wont start, oh well".

Yeah, all you can do is nod and hope the next person will actually look it up and believe what experts actually write about them. People just think medical doctors know everything there is about everything. I'm not saying they're not very educated but they can't just look at a necrotic wound and know for sure it was a brown recluse bite. Unless of course the spider was still attached haha. Unfortunately, people like to spread exciting news and what's more exciting than an extremely, potentially deadly spider that's loose in your hometown? Only a reptile the size of a building that blows fire from its mouth while stomping on Japanese people.

 

[Venom]

L. reclusa are known from several counties in Florida, but have very limited distribution:

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/IN/IN57600.pdf

L.laeta is also known to be in Florida, again, in only a few locales:

http://www.freshfromflorida.com/pi/pest-alerts/loxosceles-laeta-pest-alert.html

 

[Ciphor]

L. reclusa are known from several counties in Florida, but have very limited distribution:

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/IN/IN57600.pdf

L.laeta is also known to be in Florida, again, in only a few locales:

http://www.freshfromflorida.com/pi/pest-alerts/loxosceles-laeta-pest-alert.html

It is important to understand these county locations are all in the far NW corner of Florida where it borders Alabama. I think the farthest west in Florida they have been found is Tallahassee.

 

[Deftones90]

Same here in SC, and when I have someone send me a pic of a "Brown Recluse" or point one out to me, it's almost always a male(sometimes a female, go figure) K. hibernalis. Sometimes it's something that does not even remotely resemble a Brown Recluse, like Argiope aurantica or a Neoscona sp.. Usually, though, it's good ole K. hibernalis.

pitbulllady

I'm in SC as well and hear the exact same thing.

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[Gilberator]

I swear i've heard from several sources that recluse can be found in my area (CT) but according to that map of the states, that not true. I think somebody was telling me they found one around here.....not true then?

 

[Ciphor]

I swear i've heard from several sources that recluse can be found in my area (CT) but according to that map of the states, that not true. I think somebody was telling me they found one around here.....not true then?

In Connecticut? Brown Recluse? Not a chance. You would have the same chance as you would finding a diamond-back rattlesnake.

 

[Anonymity82]

Same here in SC, and when I have someone send me a pic of a "Brown Recluse" or point one out to me, it's almost always a male(sometimes a female, go figure) K. hibernalis. Sometimes it's something that does not even remotely resemble a Brown Recluse, like Argiope aurantica or a Neoscona sp.. Usually, though, it's good ole K. hibernalis.

pitbulllady

Definitely saw a brown recluse today... NOT. I did see the southern house spider while scooping out some crickets. I must say, it could be easy to make that mistake if you were to nervous to get close or just didn't care enough to look at the markings. It can be difficult to get it to stop moving enough so you can actually get a look at the "fiddle" or there lack of and the eye arrangement.