Loxosceles reclusa Brown Recluse in Wisconsin

The brown recluse spider, Loxosceles reclusa, is rarely found in Wisconsin. Normally, it is only able to survive as far north as southern Illinois, but is occasionally transported from the South along with boxes that have been stored in southern basements. Those individuals rarely survive a Wisconsin winter, so most introductions are temporary. A few populations have survived winter in Janesville and Racine. The specimen shown above was collected in Oklahoma.

References

Vetter RS, Barger DK (2002)
An Infestation of 2,055 Brown Recluse Spiders (Araneae: Sicariidae) and No Envenomations in a Kansas Home:
Implications for Bite Diagnoses in Nonendemic Areas.
Journal of Medical Entomology: Vol. 39, No. 6 pp. 948–951
PMID: 12495200

Vetter RS (2005)
Arachnids submitted as suspected brown recluse spiders (Araneae: Sicariidae): Loxosceles spiders
are virtually restricted to their known distributions but are perceived to exist throughout the United States.
Journal of Medical Entomology: Vol. 42, No. 4 pp. 512-521
PMID: 16119538

Wikipedia Brown Recluse Spider

The World Spider Catalog, Version 6.5
American Museum of Natural History
by Norman I. Platnick
Edited by Peter Merrett, H. Don Cameron

Nearctic Spiders Database
David Shorthouse

Spiders of North America: an identification manual
Edited by Darrell Ubick, Pierre Paquin, Paula E. Cushing, and Vince Roth

The American Arachnological Society

The International Society of Arachnology

Arachnology Home Page

Loxosceles reclusa

Brown Recluse

Hypothesized Range and Collections of Loxosceles reclusa in Wisconsin