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WSU scientist: Dreaded spider doesn’t live here

Posted by entomology.office | June 18, 2013

June 18, 2013 | WSU News, by Linda Weiford

We’ve all seen them — brown recluse spiders scuttling in the bathtub, scurrying in the tool shed or spinning a web under the porch light.

That is, we think we’ve seen them.

Contrary to what many people believe, the brown recluse, or Loxosceles reclusa, doesn’t live in the northwest part of the country, said Washington State University entomology professor Richard Zack. Instead, it dwells in the South and lower Midwest. And its bite, though toxic to humans, seldom causes the serious flesh-rotting symptoms we often hear about, he said.

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