

As seen above, the Brown recluse, Loxosceles reclusa, is a venomous, toxic spider that excretes a neurotoxin upon biting. As you can see from the right picture above, the brown recluse has a distinctive morphological characteristic that is known as the "chelo" marking on the dorsal (upper) side of the cephalothorax. This is different from the black widow that contains the "hour glass" feature on the opposite side of the abdomen and not the cephalothorax. These creatures are termed "recluse" for the reclusive nature and ability to hide in small crevices. There has only been one small population of recluses recorded in Florida in a Panhandle county. Most bites that occur elsewhere are generally random isolated cases.
Keep in mind that these tiny, quartered size creatures do not even have the capability of biting someone. If you have ever heared a story about someone being supposedly bitten by a brown recluse, they generally were putting on their shoes, or a bathing suit that had been previously hanging on the clothes line. You get my drift. Brown recluse's have diaxial fangs where widows have axial fangs. This simply means that they cannot bite you and they have to be pressed against you between yourself and something else. Best preventative measure: "If you see one, don't smack it, just flick it off!"
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