Brown recluse spider: Where It Lives, Map & Facts

Where the brown recluse spider lives – recorded in 1 country, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.

Scientific name	Loxosceles reclusa
Group	Spiders, scorpions & other arachnids
Found in	1 country
Continents	North America
Class	Arachnid
Order	Araneida
Family	Sicariidae

Where does the brown recluse spider live?

Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the brown recluse spider in 1 country or territory across North America. Wikidata gives its range as: Texas.

United States

Countries with at least a handful of records (a minimum share of the species’ records, to leave out vagrants and escapes). Records with coordinates only; captive and fossil records excluded.

What kind of animal is the brown recluse spider?

The brown recluse spider (Loxosceles reclusa) is an arachnid in the order Araneida and the family Sicariidae, genus Loxosceles. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)

About the brown recluse spider

The brown recluse (Loxosceles reclusa, Sicariidae, formerly placed in a family "Loxoscelidae") is a recluse spider with necrotic venom. Similar to those of other recluse spiders, their bites sometimes require medical attention. The brown recluse is one of two spiders in North America with dangerous venom, the other being the black widow.

Brown recluse spiders are usually between 6 and 20 millimetres (0.24 and 0.79 in), but may grow larger. While typically light to medium brown, they range in color from whitish to dark brown or blackish gray. The cephalothorax and abdomen are not necessarily the same color. These spiders usually have markings on the dorsal side of their cephalothorax, with a black line coming from it that looks like a violin with the neck of the violin pointing to the rear of the spider, resulting in the nicknames fiddleback spider, brown fiddler, or violin spider.

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Brown recluse spider (revision 1380657187), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q284352 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).