{"id":11593,"date":"2024-06-24T07:36:55","date_gmt":"2024-06-24T07:36:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/?p=11593"},"modified":"2024-06-24T07:36:55","modified_gmt":"2024-06-24T07:36:55","slug":"recluse-spider-season-is-a-myth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/?p=11593","title":{"rendered":"Recluse Spider Season Is a Myth"},"content":{"rendered":"


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This story originally<\/span> appeared on<\/em> WIRED en Espa\u00f1ol<\/a> and has been translated from Spanish.<\/em><\/p>\n

Summer arrives, and with it comes an arachnophobic furor\u2014frantic reports about the intrusion of recluse spiders into our homes. Also known as fiddlebacks or violin spiders, these are arachnids of the genus Loxosceles<\/em>. They\u2019re found in warm areas across the world, including many parts of the USA, and particularly in Mexico, which has the greatest diversity of recluse spiders in the world, with 40 different species.<\/p>\n

Headlines declare that the start of May is \u201crecluse spider season,\u201d and that people need to watch out. It\u2019s true that in their fangs these spiders carry a potent venom, which under certain circumstances can be lethal, but really they are elusive creatures that almost always seek to remain unnoticed. We should not get carried away with anti-fiddleback hysteria, much less replicate it. Such anxiety is unscientific, says Diego Barrales Alcal\u00e1, the creator of the arachnid identification platform @Arachno_Cosas<\/a>. The idea of a supposed season of recluse spiders, promulgated by the media, lacks evidence.<\/p>\n

\u201cFiddlers have become the favorite villain and, unfortunately, according to what I have seen, the problem is cyclical. Every so often the \u2018season\u2019 arrives. But not of fiddlers, but of fake news,\u201d Barrales Alcal\u00e1 says. The activity of these arachnids doesn\u2019t vary according to the time of the year, he says. And in his native Mexico, what limited statistics there are on bites certainly don\u2019t add up to the concern seen in the media.<\/p>\n

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