By Brad Haire
University of Georgia
It’s brown, armed and potentially dangerous, but very shy,
preferring quiet, dark places. It also has eight legs. Have you
seen it?
If you have seen a brown recluse spider in Georgia lately,
University of Georgia entomologist Nancy Hinkle wants to know.
The accused
Brown recluse spider — the very name makes many Georgians
shudder and recall tales of close encounters and serious
bites.
It seems that often in Georgia, Hinkle said, a strange, bite-
like bump that appears out of nowhere is diagnosed, by a doctor
or a grandmother, as a spider bite. Signs of spiders’ bites
often don’t appear until several hours or days after a bite.
And much too often in Georgia, the brown recluse spider is
accused of the dirty deed.
Hinkle came to the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental
Sciences from the University of California 18 months ago. Since
her arrival, she’s heard several Georgians say they know
somebody, or know somebody who knows somebody, who has seen or
been seriously wounded by a recluse.
This seemed a bit curious to her. For the most part, the recluse
isn’t a Southerner. It’s really a Midwesterner.
The dared
So Hinkle is on a quest to map the counties in Georgia that
claim to have brown recluse spiders.
Why would a veterinary entomologist, who normally deals with
ticks, fleas and the like, want to do this? Because somebody
dared her.
She told a former colleague in California, who is a recluse
expert, about the seemingly high incidence of recluse encounters
in Georgia.
“He said they’re very rare for Georgia and dared me to find a
brown recluse spider here,” she said.
But the research could help Georgia medical professionals, too,
she said.
“One of the reasons for doing this study is to help the medical
community rule out brown recluse bites from portions of the
state that don’t have the spiders,” she said. A mark on the skin
that looks like a spider bite could be something much more
serious.
If a doctor has diagnosed you with a brown recluse bite, send
Hinkle spiders from your house.
The hunters
But even if you haven’t been bitten, you can send live spiders
by placing a piece of crumpled paper towel in a small container
and place the spider inside. Tape the container well.
If you use sticky traps in your home or business, this is a good
way to send the spiders. Place each sticky trap in an individual
plastic bag.
You can send dead spiders in mouthwash. That’s right. “It
preserves them as well as alcohol without the hazards inherent
in shipping alcohol,” she said.
You can also send dried spiders you find.
Don’t forget to name the county or city and date of capture for
your specimen.
And don’t go out of your way to kill any spiders. “Squashed
spiders are very hard to identify,” she said.
This would be a good science project for students statewide, she
said. Interested teachers can contact Hinkle at (706) 583-
8043.
The recluse is, of course, brownish. But it has a somewhat
darker, violin-shaped design on the part that the legs attach
to. It’s not a big spider. With legs extended, it’s only about
the size of a U.S. quarter.
If you do have one, it’ll be in the darkest, most undisturbed
part of your house, Hinkle said.
(It was reported recently that 2,055 brown recluse spiders were
captured in one year in one home in Kansas. The homeowners,
never bitten, live happily with them.)
Georgia probably does have recluse spiders. Georgia’s diverse
landscape, from the mountains to the flatlands to the coast,
houses 800 known species of spiders, she said.
Send the brown recluse spiders to N.C. Hinkle, Georgia Recluse
ID Project, Department of Entomology, University of Georgia,
Athens, GA 30602-2603.
