I blame Al Gore! "Brown Recluse Spiders May Spread Across U.S. Due To Climate Change"

[Amerigo Vespucci]

:sarcasm:

I really fucking hate posting that "sarcasm" smiley, but it's better than 200 people ignoring the rest of the thread and piling on me for "attacking" Al Gore. It's a joke! GET IT? Global warming? Climate change? AL GORE??? Oh, never mind.

:eyes:

Brown Recluse Spiders May Spread Across U.S. Due To Climate Change

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/29/brown-recluse-spiders-climate-change_n_855594.html



A new study, published in the journal PLoS ONE, suggests that the potentially deadly spiders might be spreading throughout North America as the planet warms. According to LiveScience, the spider's range, which currently covers a large portion of the southeast, may not be suitable for it by 2080.

However, a changing climate could make parts of Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Nebraska and South Dakota suitable for it. It's not the amount of space that's changing, but the area it covers.

***

There's a lot of misguided hype around the spider. Though the little guys produce a deadly hemotoxic venom, their bites are so rare, and they're so small, that there are rarely signs of necrosis, let alone systematic illness.

In fact, brown recluse spiders tend not to bite unless they're pressed against the skin.

[angstlessk]

1. I moved from VA to FL into a trailer and awoke one night with an Oak Spider on my chest

do you know how large and hairy an Oak Spider is...I do...up close and personal!.could not imagine if it was poisonous as well like a brown recluse!

[simonisme]

2. Thanks for the info

Better i changed my original text.

[hfojvt]

3. I guess I have lived with them for almost ten years

Hasn't been a huge issue for me, but a guy at work has some serious medical problems now because of a spider bite.

[Enrique]

4. not to mention the manatees in the Hudson river

no joke.

[Canuckistanian]

6. Manatees don't have fangs and venom

That might make them less popular.

[1awake]

5. Still have the scar from my recluse bite.. looks like a gunshot wound. n/t

[Rosa Luxemburg]

9. they put an IV antibiotics into my arm but it took months to heal

it was like a huge ulcer and disgusting! Such a wee spider too.

[Vinnie From Indy]

7. The brown recluse has been in Indiana as long as I can remember

I guess the old ones here for decads will simply have to make room for the newly arrived.

[mike_c]

8. brown recluses are extremely infrequent, even within their range....

Numerous states have offered "show me the spider" rewards for years that have never been claimed, including, if I'm not mistaken, Georgia. As an entomologist, questions about BRs are the single most common question I receive from folks who call my university office-- despite being in northern California where no BRs have EVER been identified. Still, hardly a semester goes by without at least one or two calls from folks who are convinced that one crawled out from under their couch and wrestled the dog. I get wolf spiders and house spiders of various sorts delivered to my lab in baggies and jars, along with notes saying things like "I caught this brown recluse after my spouse's leg nearly fell off from the bite" and such. I don't think I've ever had an entomology class in which someone DIDN'T claim to know someone who knows someone else, and so on, who had a "confirmed" BR bite. All this from a tiny spider whom concerted effort lasting decades usually can't turn up.

I even get inquiries from physicians when patients present with necrotic sores. The vast majority-- as in virtually every one-- of necrotic sores are caused by bacteria, not spider venom. Insect bites, abrasions, and yes-- spider bites (which are far less common than most folks think) all push septic bacteria under the skin.

[Keith Bee]

10. I'm with ya on the "sarcasm" issue

Dearth of irony here.

[DefenseLawyer]

11. When I was a kid we were all going to be killed by Killer Bees!

They were from Mexico and they were killers.