LELON CUDE Loc: Texas

The Brown Recluse is an aggressive, poisonous, spider in Texas. It is much more poisonous than the Black Widow Spider. It has migrated, or hitch hiked, etc. to Texas, and other southern states, from Mexico. I found this one in our house in a plastic garbage can that it could not get out of.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Nasty, nasty bites if not treated!

LELON CUDE Loc: Texas

Notice the "tiny violin marking" on its back right behind its eyes.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Yup, nick-named the "violin spider".
I think most insects like this "migrate" because they are attached to people's belongings when they move to another part of the country where the things may not be indigenous.

juanbalv Loc: Los Angeles / Hawthorne

It is now in vogue to blame our neighbor to the south for all the ills befalling our great land. However, the Brown Recluse is not, I said, it is not an import from Mexico, irrespective of how paranoid we may be of Mexico. A small quote from Wikipedia follows for your erudition, or at least to give the impetus to some real research:

"The range lies roughly south of a line from southeastern Nebraska through southern Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana to southwestern Ohio. In the southern states, it is native from central Texas to western Georgia and north to Kentucky.[4][5]

Despite rumors to the contrary, the brown recluse spider has not established itself in California or anywhere outside its native range.[6] This directly contradicts numerous sensationalized media reports of bites occurring where these spiders are absent (and no specimens were found), such as a 2014 report from Thailand, where a man was claimed to have died from a brown recluse bite.[7] Over the last century, occasional spiders have been intercepted in various locations where they have no known established populations; these spiders may be transported fairly easily, though the lack of established populations well outside the natural range also indicates that such movement has not led to colonization of new areas, after decades of opportunities.[8][9] Note that the occurrence of brown recluses in a single building (such as a warehouse) outside of the native range is not considered a successful colonization; such single-building populations can occur (e.g., in several such cases in Florida),[10] but do not spread, and can be easily eradicated.[11]

There are other species of the genus Loxosceles native to the southwestern part of the United States, including California, that may resemble the brown recluse, but these species have never been documented as medically significant. The number of "false positive" reports based on misidentifications is considerable; in a nationwide study where people submitted spiders that they thought were brown recluses, of 581 from California only 1 was a brown recluse—submitted by a family that moved from Missouri and brought it with them (compared to specimens submitted from Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma, where between 75% and 90% were recluses).[12] From this study, the most common spider submitted from California as a brown recluse was in the genus Titiotus, whose bite is deemed harmless. A similar study documented that various arachnids were routinely misidentified by physicians, pest control operators, and other non-expert authorities, who told their patients or clients that the spider they had was a brown recluse when in fact it was not.[13] Despite the absence of brown recluses from the Western U.S., physicians in the region commonly diagnose "brown recluse bites", leading to the popular misconception that the spiders inhabit those areas.[14]" Having said all of that, I like your photographs. Good shots.

Should you wish to read my source for yourself, I am including the the URL, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_recluse_spider

newtoyou Loc: Eastport

Picky,I know, but to call a spider an insect means you have nothing to add of importance. why add, go do some basic research and get back to us. Thank you

graybeard

Oh I forgot Wikipedia is the final word in every subject. All it takes is one pregnant female spider to get in the luggage of someone going to the west coast, Canada or wherever and you have all kinds of potential bite victims. I am not trying to spread alarm, just pointing out a flaw in your reasoning. (esp citing Wiki !) I have lived in Illinois 70+ years and never laid eyes on a brown recluse (or a black widow). Plenty of Daddy Long Legs in my basement, but haven't seen the dangerous ones.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Politicizing a poor little arachnid - for shame. Here's an article that says they are native to the U.S. and traveled to Mexico! You guys crack me up

https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/health-authorities-warn-of-violin-spider/

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DanielB Loc: San Diego, Ca

This is true. Allot of Californians like to call the Wolf Spider a brown recluse which obviously it is not. It is however highly aggressive.

juanbalv Loc: Los Angeles / Hawthorne

You better watch out with those daddy long legs in your basement. They are prone to transformation into brown recluses in an attempt to be featured in Wikipedia, its lack of finality as an informational medium and, yes, my flawed reasoning, of course, notwithstanding.

juanbalv Loc: Los Angeles / Hawthorne

Hey Linda From Main, I am just having fun here. Trully; and truly, I enjoy your posts. Glad to have provided some comical relief for you.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

The main lady from Maine does appreciate your humor.

Apologies to the OP for hijacking; I rarely do this. I just needed a distraction from the epidemic in main forum of people refusing to read what's already been written prior to posting their own words of wisdom - no matter that the wisdom was already dispensed sixteen times

juanbalv Loc: Los Angeles / Hawthorne

photophile Loc: Lakewood, Ohio, USA

An unwelcome visitor!

DWU2 Loc: Phoenix Arizona area

That spider appears to be missing a leg.