Did you know we have two different recluse spiders in the United States?

They are both small bodied with very long legs. The most common recluse spider in the world is the loxosceles ryfescens named the Mediterranean recluse spider, likely because it is thought to originate there.

It seems to travel with human cargo and then starting new populations where it disembarks. The Mediterranean spider has become world wide in its distribution. When collected in this country it is typically misdiagnosed as the brown recluse spider, loxosceles reclusa. They both have the violin shaped mark on their carapace and both have three sets of two eyes but their genitalia are very different.

The scientific community has lately become aware that the population is not a single incident but rather a population of the Mediteranean spider and the accompanying problems that go with it.