New York Apartment Overrun by Venomous Spiders

Fox News ^ | September 29, 2010

[nickcarraway]

The poisonous brown recluse spider is a very rare sight in New York City. So imagine one woman's surprise upon finding the venomous creature in her sink.

Gail Ingram claims she found the first recluse spider in the sink of her apartment on Gramercy Park in Manhattan. And despite the wave of bedbugs sweeping through the city -- the latest such infestation was discovered in shock jock Howard Stern's office -- poisonous spiders are a different story entirely.

Yet there it was.

"I discovered a brown recluse spider in my kitchen sink,"

[palmer]

I killed a Black Widow in the dog kennel the other day. Nasty looking creatures.

Yes, very evil looking. Here's one under the deck railing:

I have them everywhere around my house. The black widow is timid but will come to investigate if you disturb her web. Under stress she will hide or curl her legs into a tiny ball. The web is a complete random mess especially away from the center. By far the sloppiest web spinning spider on the plenet. Also the web is very sticky and very strong. If you have a web that comes off easily in your hand, then it is not a black widow. Finally you will not always see the red spots (sometimes an hourglass, sometimes not) unless you carefully flip her over, but she will be jet black, shiny, and well, evil looking.

[FroggyTheGremlim]

There are two creatures commonly called “Daddy-long-legs.” One is really a “harvestman,” and is not a spider.

The other is a true spider.

[Vor Lady]

Ummmm....all spiders are Arachnids. As are lobsters and crabs.

[Tijeras_Slim]

You’re very lucky. I know someone who suffered heart damage from a brown recluse bite.

A fellow on another board I frequent couldn’t beat the infection and lapsed into a coma and died.

[41Thunder]

Hmmm! I just had arachnid for dinner. Mighty taste lobsta he was.

[Joe 6-pack]

"Will spiders kill bed bugs?"

The bed bugs two worst predators are either the house centipede, or the masked hunter assassin bug....both of whose bites are far more painful to humans than are the bed bugs.

[lmr]

“I hate to burst your bubble, but a Daddy Longlegs is not a spider. It’s an Arachnid.”

You haven’t bursted my bubble at all. I paid attention in Zoology class, apparently you didn’t.

All Spiders are Arachnids and those critters commonly known as ‘Daddy Long Legs’ are definitely spiders, at least in the United States they are:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pholcidae

By the way, in addition to Spiders, The Arachnid class also includes Ticks, Mites and Scorpions, among others:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arachnid

In Scientific taxonomy, Spiders form the order, Araneae, which is under the Arachnid class:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Araneae

For information on how Scientific classifications work:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_classification

Please take time to educate yourself as I have. Thanks.

[lmr]

“Didn’t Mythbusters expose this as an urban myth?”

Which part? That the Daddy Longlegs can’t break the skin or that it’s not the most poisonous? I am fairly certain the former is almost indisputable, but the latter may not be and I was certain I qualified my statement to begin with. I can wiggle out of that argument like the spider that wiggles away from it’s web because I haven’t said anything with 100 percent certainty. ;-P It’s still a potent venom, but they can’t hurt you just the same. That was the point.

[Vor Lady]

Lobster is my favorite arachnid!

[RichInOC]

Look, I’m a California boy, but back there, don’t they usually call them the co-op board?

[stbdside]

Actually, crabs and lobsters are crustaceans.

[Vor Lady]

I did some looking around on the web just now thanks to the links from the post upthread and things have changed since I was in biology class. Granted that was some 30+ years ago. We used Copeland’s classifications.