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I've seen this spider bite chart (shown in the link) going around the internet lately, and it's full of nonsense. My friend explains the errors in her blog post:
Although my background is in entomology, I'm not a spider expert, though I caught several of these errors. I'm glad she was able to clarify. Spider bites are extremely uncommon (usually misdiagnosed by doctors who are unfamiliar with spiders) and are just NOT as dangerous as people mistakenly believe.
I would not expect an entomologist to be a spider expert. Insects and spiders are two different areas of study.
I know people who have been 'bitten' by both a Brown Recluse as well as a Black Widow.
Black Widow bites make one sick like a very bad flu. One woman I knew that was bit was pregnant and she felt awful, but in the end, everyone was ok.
My BIL was bit by a Recluse. Because we live in a very rural area, the doctors here are knowing of the symptoms. They knew right away that the 'boil' on his leg was from a Recluse. It would have healed just fine with aggressive care but my BIL was a bit freaked out by it. The doc just lanced and cleaned out the wound and gave it a wick with some instructions on keeping it clean. He did not lose his leg nor did the hole get bigger.
People also have a fear of scorpions here in the US. These are also mostly harmless. There is only one scorpion that has a poisonous sting and they are located in a very small area of the southwest and into the desert of California.
No one really freaks out much about bees or wasps, and those can cause deaths. And again, I know someone who did. She was camping, taking a nap in her tent when she got stung, went into anaphylactic shock in her sleep and died.
Are you suggesting that a private for-profit corporation in America can willfully distribute inaccurate or exaggerated information to prospective customers in hopes that fear will inspire them to buy the product? I've never heard of such a thing.
I would not expect an entomologist to be a spider expert. Insects and spiders are two different areas of study.
I know people who have been 'bitten' by both a Brown Recluse as well as a Black Widow.
Black Widow bites make one sick like a very bad flu. One woman I knew that was bit was pregnant and she felt awful, but in the end, everyone was ok.
My BIL was bit by a Recluse. Because we live in a very rural area, the doctors here are knowing of the symptoms. They knew right away that the 'boil' on his leg was from a Recluse. It would have healed just fine with aggressive care but my BIL was a bit freaked out by it. The doc just lanced and cleaned out the wound and gave it a wick with some instructions on keeping it clean. He did not lose his leg nor did the hole get bigger.
I"m aware that arachnids and insects are different. But many entomologists, including myself, have taken entire courses on arachnids. And most arachnid experts work in entomology departments in museums or universities, as do experts in millipedes and centipedes, which are in different classes than spiders and insects.
Unless your BIL lives on one of the areas on this map, he was not bitten by a brown recluse, but one of the other, basically harmless recluse spiders:
"Medical students don't even get one full day's training in spider-related topics. Researchers in Colorado and Michigan have developed techniques to diagnose bites by biochemical lab work, but currently few labs offer this service, which only works if done within a week after the bite occurs."
"Unless your BIL lives on one of the areas on this map, he was not bitten by a brown recluse, but one of the other, basically harmless recluse spiders:"
Sorry, no go on that. When people move, they can take their pests with them. Back when we moved from AL to FL, I was bitten by a recluse that must have hidden in the boxes and come out about three months later.
I clicked on the link in the OP, read the blog post and then read the first comment which mentioned yellow sac spiders. Curious, I looked this spider up and the pictures of it look exactly like the spiders I typically get in my house. Does that type of spider live in the western NY area? If not, is there a look-alike species?
ok, the funniest part of that article was something about sac spiders don't cause something to grow in your *******. (just had to say) Thank you for the link, I wanted to see some spiders.
We get these - well the only thing I can describe them as is albino spiders. They're around the size of my thumbnail, including their leg span. They're a yellowish white, but almost translucent. And then we get those plain normal brown spiders, they look like the yellow ones in shape, but they're brown, almost black. We also get these awesome looking funnel-web spiders, with bright yellow stripes, that spin their funnels in the corner between our crank-out window and the windowpane. I sit there watching them spin, when I see them working on them. They never try to come into the house though.
My absolute favorites are the tiny little jumping spiders that bounce around my kitchen counter. They keep me company when I do the dishes, with their smiley-face heads.
My absolute favorites are the tiny little jumping spiders that bounce around my kitchen counter. They keep me company when I do the dishes, with their smiley-face heads.
I love the jumping spiders too. They seem to almost interact with people. The ones around my house will orient toward me and shift their position to face me if I move. I have read that their vision is excellent and unique among spider species. I find them cute and really love how they move.
I love the jumping spiders too. They seem to almost interact with people. The ones around my house will orient toward me and shift their position to face me if I move. I have read that their vision is excellent and unique among spider species. I find them cute and really love how they move.
My mother used to call these "money spiders". If you had them in your house, you would have money. Don't kill them, it's bad luck! (According to my mother!)
So I never kill them. They are kinda cute. (But I could probably make a case for the fact that the way they "orient themselves towards me" is a bit creepy!)
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