Recluse or not?

Vayu Son

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I recently stumbled upon a spider in palatka, florida, while visiting my girlfriends family. It looked like these two spiders, the first being Loxosceles laeta male, the second Kukulcania hibernalis male.. both with verified sightings in florida.

Any additional information or help would be great. If I catch another I plan to send it off for verification, but I let the last one go.

-V
 

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XOskeletonRED

Arachnodemon
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Indeed, it could be the reclusa, but the brown spider is near identical and is extremely difficult to ID when compared with each other. Only thing I can tell you, is be wary of the both because the bites both hurt like a motha and I'll leave the exact taxonomy to the professional taxonomists on these species. Like I said, extremely difficult taxonomy work here according to all reference material I have come across. The reclusa is more well known to hide in rarely used places, such as cabinets that are rarely opened, etc.


adios,
edw. :D
 

Vayu Son

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Thats what ive heard... however given that both specimens are male, they are likely to be roaming this time of year seeking to mate instead of holing up in corners.

I looked up some statistics for florida and found that actual Loxosceles reclusa are hard to come by, and frequently blamed for necrotic lesions when that may not necesarily be the case.

Thanks for the info

-V
 

Venom

Arachnoprince
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If you're comfortable getting kinda close to the spider, there is one sure way of IDing it. Take a magnifying glass, and have a look at its eyes. Recluses are among the very few spiders that only have 6 eyes. They are arranged in three pairs: one pair directly in front, and one to either side.
 

Kugellager

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Another important point...Loxosceles reclusa are a fairly small spider. If the one you are seeing are much larger than 1.25-1.75 inches across, it is not a Brown recluse.

John
];')
 

Vayu Son

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Not Loxosceles reclusa , but Loxosceles laeta . These two along with Loxosceles rufescans have been found in select counties around here. laeta is the largest of the genus.

-V
 
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