29 Jun
2002
29 Jun
'02
9:13 a.m.
Anecdotal evidence of Brown Recluses in California:
For years I worked Race Course Setup for the Unlimited Hydroplane races
in San Diego. One of our course workers was bitten by a Brown Recluse
while sitting on the dock in Mission Bay. Took him over eight months to
recover. Nasty creature... Symptoms were flu-like followed by rotting
flesh. He was hospitalized for about a month.
Theory was that the spider hitched a ride from AZ in either the boat or
the boat trailer. Boat and trailer went into the water and the spider
made its way to the dock.
If the arachnid guy wants to find them in California, I'd suggest he
look around the docks where the Zonies plop their boats in the water.
He'll find them.
Jim
Eric J. Korpela wrote:
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For those arachnophobes, check out this link:
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2061.html
Sam's picture doesn't look like a brown recluse.
It's also too large to be a brown recluse. It looks like a wolf spider
to me. http://mamba.bio.uci.edu/~pjbryant/biodiv/spiders/Lycosa%20sp.htm
Not to mention that there are no Brown Recluses in California, despite
myths to the contrary. (There's an entymologist at UCSD who has offered a
reward of $10,000 for anyone who discovers a breeding population of
Brown recluses in the state. Finding one in a crate of oranges doesn't
count.) ISTR that california does has a population of less dangerous
recluses. Black Widows and tarantulas we got.
Eric
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