![]() (Legend: Purple, black widow yellow, yellow sac red, hobo spider green, brown recluse blue, other recluses) | Graphic by Don Foley Other recluses are found in the Southwest. The hobo spider has expanded its range in the Pacific Northwest, while the brown recluse is found in the South and lower Midwest. The black widow and yellow sac spider are found throughout the country, although the latter’s range has yet to be mapped precisely. Venomous American arachnids: The United States has five groups of spiders that can cause serious injury. When it bites humans, it can leave hard, red sores with white pustules. Doctors often blame it for injuries that may have been caused by the hobo spider instead.Ĭommon in North America, this quarter-inch-long spider spends the day in a silken retreat and hunts by night. This unobtrusive spider can cause necrotic lesions in some people. Still, scary rumors about it continue to spread.īrown recluse spider ( Loxosceles recluse ) The world’s fastest moving arachnid packs no venom at all, relying on its massive mouthparts to kill insects mechanically. Recent evidence suggests, however, that the white-tailed spider is harmless. White-tailed spider ( Lampona cylindrata )ĭoctors previously believed that this Australian spider caused necrotic lesions in the people that it bit. The giant preys on the hobo and may help keep it out of houses. People have nothing to fear from the formidable-looking giant house spider, but its cousin the hobo spider does. Giant house spider ( Tegenaria gigantea ) It can kill frogs, snakes, cats, horses, and, occasionally, humans. The venom of the black widow contains a nerve toxin that produces excruciating pain throughout the body. But in North America the hobo spider can often be found in cities and has made its presence known in ways its European experience never suggested. Its genus name, Tegenaria, means “mat weaver” its species name, agrestis, suggests the agrarian life it leads in Europe. It spread across the Pacific Northwest and adjacent areas of Canada by attaching its egg sacs to shipping crates that were loaded on trains, hence its name. The hobo spider first appeared in the United States sometime before the 1930s. The spider she found crushed within her clothing was a hobo spider, Tegenaria agrestis, a member of the family Agelenidae.Īgelenids are found in temperate places all over the world, in about 38 genera and 500 species. The woman’s ability to walk and stand remains impaired. More than two years after the bite, the wound heals as a sizable scar, beneath which veins are clotted. After 10 weeks, the crater, still growing, is big enough to accommodate two thumbs and is ringed with black flesh. The bite blisters and bursts, leaving an open wound that continues to grow. She, too, develops a headache and nausea, as well as dizziness. October 1992 : A 42-year-old woman from Bingham County, Idaho, feels the burning bite of a spider on her ankle. After lingering in the hospital for several weeks, the woman dies of internal bleeding. Doctors find her blood deficient in several basic components. She is bleeding from the orifices, even from the ears. It is at least two weeks before she seeks help, and by then it is too late. Hobo spider Patch#In the days that follow, a patch of dead tissue sloughs from the spot where she was bitten. She soon becomes nauseated and develops a migrainelike headache. January 1988 : A 56-year-old woman from Spokane, Washington, feels something bite her on the thigh. ![]()
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