Wanted: Dead or alive, not squashed

Posted: Saturday, May 10, 2003

 Nancy Hinkle, an entomologist at the University of Georgia, is studying the actual number of brown recluse spiders in Georgia.R.C. Rique/Staff 

   Since Nancy Hinkle asked Georgians to send her their brown recluse spiders a few months ago, she's received 200 in her University of Georgia mailbox.

   Only one of them was really a brown recluse, however - but that's pretty much what she expected.

   People often confuse other spiders with the recluse.

   ''Most spiders, probably 90 percent, in the state of Georgia are brown because it's a wonderful camouflage color,'' she explained.

   Two things set the recluse apart - a fiddle-shaped mark on the front part of its back and its six eyes. Most spiders have eight eyes.

   Hinkle, an entomologist with UGA's College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, said she needs more spiders to map the brown recluse's range.

   Hinkle suspects the recluse may be found in a much smaller portion of the state than most people think - probably just a few extreme north Georgia counties.

   Hinkle's project is partly pure research to map where the spider lives. But it could also help doctors make accurate diagnoses.


 Nancy Hinkle, a veterinary entomologist at the University of Georgia has this collection of spiders most often mistaken for brown recluse spiders.R.C. Rique/Staff 

A brown recluse bite can cause a slow-healing flesh wound, but so can herpes simplex, flesh-eating bacteria, side effects of diabetes and a few other things.

   A doctor's brown recluse diagnosis is often made long after the alleged bite, and no one ever sees a spider, she said.

   A better map of the recluse range could mean fewer incorrect diagnoses, Hinkle said.

   Even in areas where the recluse does live, bites are rare.

   They don't call it the recluse for nothing, Hinkle said. Recluses like dark, undisturbed environments - places such as woodpiles and old storage boxes where they're not likely to encounter something big like a human.

   Hinkle wants Georgians to mail her more suspected brown recluses, dead or alive - but not squashed ones, because they are too hard to identify. They can be preserved in mouthwash (alcohol is against postal rules) or sent dried. Live ones can be mailed in a well-taped small container with a piece of crumpled paper towel.

   Send the spiders to N.C. Hinkle, Georgia Recluse ID Project, Department of Entomology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602-2603. Detailed shipping instructions and more about brown recluses are on the UGA entomology department's Web site, http://entomology.ent.uga.edu/brown_recluse.htm.


 Brown recluse spiders, such as this one, are sought for a UGA study.Ohio State University/Special 


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