Ask LJ: What kind of a spider is this?

[awfief]

More importantly, does it bite, and could it be the source of very infrequent mosquito-bite type things on our bodies? (The tissue where the bite is, isn't necrotic, so I'd ruled out spiders, but since I saw this one in my office tonight and captured it, I'm wondering if that's it...I am keeping it in the tupperware in case I have to bring it to a

Comments

[hakamadare]

so, the legs look a bit short, but the markings on the thorax and abdomen look somewhat similar to a brown recluse.

perhaps compare its size to a penny, as per the reference photo? also, can you flip it over and look at the arrangement of the eyes? that should help with identification.

for questions like this, a good resource is the poison control hotline, 800-222-1222.

-steve

[awfief]

I have done a tad bit of research, and came to the same conclusion, however the brown recluse spider is more poisonous than just mosquito bite-type bites, and (more importantly) *extremely* rare in New England. The tissue isn't necrotic, either. I went to the poison control website, which said that the venom is necrotic.....(I've had necrotic spider bites before, a decade or so ago, when I scratched it the skin came right off and was very soft, this isn't like that at all

[awfief]

Exactly. We wouldn't be around to ask about it if one had been biting us for 8 weeks or so.

[awfief]

FWIW you can click on the pictures and zoom in, in case you can identify stuff better than I can.