Desert Recluse?

Is the desert recluse bite as bad as the "Brown Recluse"? I live in the high desert in Ca. and I see a lot of these and I have been miss guided when someone told me that it WAS A BROWN RECLUSE!!

… glenda, 3 May, 2012 - 5:22pm

Not the same, but

..little is known about the venom and bite of the lesser-known species of brown spiders. “Although there are suspected variations in virulence among the species, all Loxosceles spiders should be considered potentially capable of producing dermonecrosis to some extent.”

… Lynette Elliott, 3 May, 2012 - 5:30pm

Moved

Moved from ID Request.

… Lynette Elliott, 26 October, 2011 - 8:31am

it's Loxosceles alright

try matching it to a range map for an educated guess as to which brown spider you have.

… wolfpacksved, 25 October, 2011 - 2:03pm

Well...

Well, the eye pattern is a match for a Recluse spider:

I am not familiar enough with the Desert Recluse to give you a positive ID, but I do have lots of experience with Brown Recluses here in Missouri---I've been bitten twice in my life. Nasty little buggers. I still have the scars.

A search of the internet shows 6 different types of Recluse spiders for California:

Arizona Recluse - Loxosceles arizonica
Baja Recluse - Loxosceles palma
Chilean Recluse - Loxosceles laeta
Desert Recluse - Loxosceles deserta
Martha's Recluse - Loxosceles martha
Russell's Recluse - Loxosceles russelli

So, it's most likely one of those. In any case, you can tell your park visitor that it is a Recluse.

- Bill

… Bill Myers, 25 October, 2011 - 1:26pm

Berkeley Lists two types of Loxosceles for San Diego County

Okay, here are the two species of Recluse spiders listed for San Diego:

Loxosceles deserta

Loxosceles palma

- Bill

… Bill Myers, 25 October, 2011 - 2:55pm