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Spider Question Received From J.R., West Houston, on 11-11-08, pg. 2 J.R. CONTINUES: (2) Can wolf spiders look brown? Wolf spiders are in the family Lycosidae, which is represented in North America by 16 genera and 238 species (See Ubick et al, [2005], pages 164-170, for additional details). Many of these are brown, but most of those also have dark brown or black markings of one kind or another. The large number of species, and the need to examine the internal genitalia under the microscope, prevents identifying some specimens accurately to species except in a lab setting, but identifying to family and, often, to genus, may be possible from ordinary digital photographs, especially at relatively high resolution. (3) Do brown recluse spiders carry their babies? No. Furthermore, I am not aware of any confirmed reports of brown recluse spiders having been found in Houston or in the Houston area. Though other species of recluse spiders are found throughout Texas, they are scattered, and not found in large numbers anywhere. The brown recluse (Loxosceles reclusa), for its part, is one of thirteen species of Loxosceles found in North America. It prefers relatively dry locales, which explains why the species is common in Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma (where, by the way, they only rarely bite, and even when they do, their bites only rarely produce necrotic wounds of medical significance). The Houston area is too damp to suit them, and though small populations of them may survive there under unusual conditions (a basement kept unusually warm and dry via special air handling equipment), the likelihood of that happening is remote. NEXT PAGE * TERMITE ENCOUNTERS * SNAKE ENCOUNTERS * SNAKE BITE FIRST AID * SNAKE EXCLUSION * SPIDER ENCOUNTERS FOR 2008 * SPIDER ENCOUNTERS FOR 2007 * SPIDER BITE FIRST AID * SPIDER EXTERMINATION * PUSS CATERPILLAR ENCOUNTERS * PUSS CATERPILLAR FIRST AID * PUSS CATERPILLAR EXTERMINATION * Assembled & Edited by Jerry Cates. Questions? Corrections? Comments? BUG ME RIGHT NOW! ---- Ph: 512-331-1111 ---- E-Mail ---- Privacy ----BugsInTheNews * --0a0s-- |