What kind of spider is this? (pictures inside)

[WilliamPitt]

I was up at a cabin outside of Woodstock this weekend, and while we were standing out on the porch on Saturday night, this guy came slinking down the windowpane.

This is a zoomed picture, so the proportions make it look like The Spider That Ate Tokyo, but in reality it was pretty damned big. Maybe a little less the circumference of a raquetball with its legs completely out.

I thought it was a Brown Recluse Spider:



...which are actually dangerous. My friend, who was there, doubted it then but has since seen pictures, and thinks I was right. I'm not so sure, after looking at other pics.

So, if there are any spid-o-philes here, maybe you can help. Is this a Brown Recluse, and if not, what is it?

P.S. See the glowing eyes? Yeah, he was creepy.

[Major Hogwash]

1. OMG! It looks like a Brown Recluse to me.

Did ya step on it?

[LSK]

2. OMG its The Spider That Ate Tokyo!!!

It does look like the brown recluse spider.

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=brown%20recluse%20spider&btnG=Google+Search&sa=N&tab=wi

[LSK]

5. however according to this, they are not in the NorthEast

http://spiders.ucr.edu/avoidbites.html

[Guava Jelly]

3. I have read that the bite of a brown recluse doesn't effect everyone

the same way.
what can eat the hell out of one guy won't effect to much another

[rustydog]

26. It is a nasty bite that necrotizes flesh....

My son's step-uncle who was cripled since birth (no feeling in legs) felt the brown recluse bite his leg.
He almost lost the leg.

[BreweryYardRat]

4. Yeah, looks like a brown recluse.

Smacked one on my bedroom wall a while back.

[TimeChaser]

6. There's another spider that looks a lot like a brown recluse,

unfortunatly, I don't remember the name of the other species right now x( I do know that they're not uncommon to find in houses in the NE US.

[NewJeffCT]

10. Yes, there is one that looks like the brown recluse

I also forgot the name.

[RoyGBiv]

13. Hobo Spider?

They are often confused for a recluse, but they're more common in the NW, I think.

[yvr girl]

7. I think it's the spider that ate Rio myself

He's after you...he's under your bed. Bwahahahaha

[distantearlywarning]

8. You could try this website:

www.whatsthatbug.com

They have lots of different pictures of spiders, and if you don't find your spider, you can submit your picture and they will tell you what it is.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

9. Sure it wasn't a wolf spider?

They are huge with long hairy legs and look very scary. Harmless, though. They eat other little critters.

[Skittles]

11. that ain't no Wolf spider

man I LOVE wolf spiders - they will stand on their hind legs when threatened but they are so harmless I would pick them up and toss them outside (I would not let the cats use them as toys)

[RoyGBiv]

12. Looks too big ...

A recluse is generally no bigger than about a half-inch (a little bigger with legs extended), and they're very shy, which is why so many people get bitten and don't realize it until their skin starts rotting off. They love to hide in shoes and closets and hampers.

Did you see a web nearby, or did it seem to be in the process of spinning one? If so, it wasn't a recluse. Also, I can't tell from the pic, but did it have the tell-tale fiddle on its back?

I'll be damned if I know what it is, though. A lot of common spiders look like a recluse upon first inspection, though.

[ScreamingMeemie]

14. It's an icky one.

That's for sure... :scared:

[marzipanni]

15. I don't see the fiddle-shaped marking on its back which brown recluse

spiders have. Also B.R.s are the size of a quarter.
http://www.brown-recluse.com/spiderinfo.html

[bridgit]

16. wow...i'm going with big-ass, spooky spider...

i would not have endeavored to pick up a brown recluse and put him on a quarter all nice like, that would have fallen into the 'you're a better man than i charlie brown' category

:scared:

[Arugula Latte]

19. "big-ass, spooky spider" -- Oh sure, get all la de da scientific on us.

Still, I agree with you on the :scared:

[prettykitty]

17. look at what a Recluse Spider can do to a thumb in just 4 days...

more if you got the stomach...
http://thefuntimesguide.com/movabletype/archives/2005/07/brownrecluse.html

yuk

[bridgit]

18. yup, fuck you up, homey...welcome to du, prettykitty...

:scared: :hi: :kick:

[Arugula Latte]

21. You know what's weird? Two of my sisters in law got bitten in the forehead

by brown recluse spider. They each have a small, permanent "pit" in their faces as a reminder.

[Scout1071]

20. That's the kind I'm going to have nightmares about tonight.

Why did I click on this thread?

[MaggieSwanson]

22. There was a spider like that in a little bar

in Stone City about 8 years ago. I'd forgotten until I saw your picture.

My husband stepped on it, and its legs extended from either side his size 12 shoe...curling and twitching and I couldn't stop looking for anything.

God, Will, now I'll never sleep!

Let's just call it a Stone City spider. K?


:scared:

[bertha katzenengel]

23. Will, go to www.whatsthatbug.com -- you might be able to identify it there

To me it looks like a hobo spider. We have 'em here in MD.

:hi:

[Brigid]

24. Yikes!

That is one scary looking critter. But you said he was fairly good size -- aren't brown recluse spiders supposed to be fairly small?

[carpetbagger]

25. It looks like a wolf spider.

There are many different species of wolf spiders in North America, so I wouldn't disbelieve the otehr poster above who said it didn't resemble one of her local types. (Wolf spiders make up an entire family in taxonomic terms).

Why?

1. Behavior. Crawling around the curtains at night is a wolf spider thing to do. Brown recluse wouldn't want to be that much in the open. Typically they run into people when the people rummage through boxes or clothing on the floor, otherwise hanging in dark, remote places.

2. Range. Brown recluse are real rare in the northeast. Notice that doctors diagnose brown recluse spider bites at the drop of a hat, even in areas without the spider. Now, it's uncertain how often brown recluse gets out of range, since people are fairly mobile with their possessions, and reports of the spider are scattered among human belongings outside range, but it's like seeing a receipt on the ground up there and thinking it's from Winn Dixie.

3. Appearence. Notice the two stripes on your spider. they go cephalocaudal (head-tail). That's more consistant with a wolf spider than a brown recluse.

Edit: I referred to Skittles in the male gender. My bad.

[Ava]

27. looks like a wolf spider

we get them all the time here in bama. the get in the pool a lot. i'm pretty sure it's not a brown recluse(i've been bitten by one before and had to go to the ER).

me, i hate spiders, so i get rid of them all.

[spacelady]

28. Agressive Brown House Spider n/t

[Major Hogwash]

29. Did you count how many eyes he had, Will?

LoL

Because, according to http://dermatology.cdlib.org/DOJvol5num2/special/recluse.html , it's all in the eyes.


Identifying the Brown Recluse Spider

One can readily learn how to identify recluse spiders with less than a minute's training. Whereas most U.S. spiders have 8 eyes, typically arranged in 2 rows of 4, the recluse spiders have 6 eyes arranged in pairs (dyads) with one anterior dyad and 2 lateral dyads (Fig. 1). All 13 species of U.S. recluses (11 native, 2 non-native) share the same eye pattern. In many publications, the violin pattern on the cephalothorax (the first body part to which the legs attach) is mentioned as a diagnostic characteristic (Fig 2). Although it is quite consistent in adult brown recluses (although it can fade in preserved specimens), many western U.S. recluse species and some young brown recluses have virtually no contrasting pigmentation in the violin region (Fig. 3, 4). In addition, recluse spiders have abdomens that are devoid of coloration pattern and their legs are covered with fine hairs but lack thickened spines.