Brown widows creeping into south Louisiana

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Slidell residents dealing with rise in brown widow spiders

wwltv.com
Posted on July 21, 2011 at 10:22 PM
Updated yesterday at 10:49 PM
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Doug Mouton / Northshore Bureau Chief

SLIDELL, La. -- On Guy Gordon's property near Slidell, the webs are everywhere. Wood spiders are common here, and now he says so are brown widows.
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He estimates there are 50 to 100 brown widows here, and he didn't start seeing them until after Hurricane Katrina.

?The majority of the widows that I've seen around here, the brown widows, are quite large,? he said.
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According to LSU, their venom is more toxic than black widow venom, but they don't release nearly as much venom when they bite.
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LSU recommends extreme caution when you're near them.

Full text:
http://www.wwltv.com/news/Slidell-residents-dealing-with-rise-in-brown-spiders-125993443.html

 

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Re: Louisiana - Slidell residents dealing with rise in brown widow spiders

Re: Louisiana - Slidell residents dealing with rise in brown widow spiders

Brown Widow Spiders


<CENTER></CENTER>By Fred Santana, Ph.D., Sarasota County IPM Educator

Excerpt:​

APPEARANCE
Because they vary from light tan to dark brown or almost black, with variable markings of black, white, yellow, orange, or brown on the back of their abdomens, brown widows are not as easy to recognize. The underside of the abdomen, if you can see it, contains the characteristic hourglass marking. Unlike the black widow, the hourglass is orange to yellow orange in color...​

Rear view of hourglass marking​

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BITE RISK
Although the bite of a widow spider is much feared, the widow spiders are generally non-aggressive and will retreat when disturbed. Bites usually occur when a spider becomes accidentally pressed against the skin of a person when putting on clothes or sticking their hands in recessed areas or dark corners. According to Dr. G.B. Edwards, an arachnologist with the Florida State Collection of Arthropods in Gainesville, the brown widow venom is twice as potent as black widow venom. However, they do not inject as much venom as a black widow, are very timid, and do not defend their web. The brown widow is also slightly smaller than the black widow.
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HABITAT
The brown widow builds its web in secluded, protected sites around our homes, often very near our presence. It has a fondness for buildings but will construct its web in all kinds of man-made structures, and even vegetation. Some typical sites include inside old tires, empty containers such as buckets and nursery pots, mail boxes, entry way corners, under eaves, stacked equipment, cluttered storage closets and garages, behind hurricane shutters, recessed hand grips of plastic garbage cans, undercarriages of motor homes, underneath outside chairs, branches of shrubs. The following photographs show some sites where brown widows have constructed their webs...​

Full text:
http://sarasota.ifas.ufl.edu/ipm/brownwidow.htm​

 

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Re: Brown widows creeping into south Louisiana

Brown widows creeping into south Louisiana

by Nikki Buskey / Houma Courier
wwltv.com
Posted on April 18, 2012 at 12:23 PM

HOUMA, La. - A breed of poisonous invasive spiders are on the march across Louisiana and have already been sighted in Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes, according to local Louisiana State University AgCenter officials.
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Historically there have only been two species of spider in Louisiana that were dangerous to humans, the brown recluse and the black widow.
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The spiders were likely brought in through interstate shipping or transportation, Joffrion added.

The spider ranges in color from gray or tan to dark brown and may reach 1 inch to 1? inches long. Like its better-known black widow cousin, the brown widow spider has an orange hourglass marking on its belly.

Its body is often brightly colored, Moppert said, with patterns on the top of the abdomen in brown, white, black and orange and often has dark bands on its legs.

The spider weaves loose webbing and its distinctive eggs look like white balls with spikes.
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If bitten by what you think is a brown widow spider, you should seek medical attention immediately. To help medical responders, if possible you should safely trap the spider that bit you for identification.

Full text:
http://www.wwltv.com/news/local/Brown-widows-creeping-into-south-Louisiana-147951405.html