Are There Brown Recluse Spiders On Martha’s Vineyard?

MVTimes.com – I love a good natural history question to ponder! And the brown recluse spider, Loxosceles reclusa, furnishes a fine one. Academic spider researchers consider this species, one of very few spiders capable of giving humans a serious bite, a creature of the south-central portions of the United States.

Although an avid student of bugs of all kinds, I’ve never seen a recluse here (or indeed anywhere else). Yet I regularly receive reports of brown recluses on the Vineyard, and recurring discussion of this species on a Vineyard Facebook page I frequent shows many Islanders firmly persuaded that brown recluses are an abundant and well-established peril here.

LaLaLaLaLaLaLaLaLa… I’m sorry I can’t hear you Mr. Killmy Buzz the depressing MV Times writer. I only read the first two paragraphs of this article, and even then I Men In Blacked the memory right out of my brain. Feel free to click the link and read more if you want, but not me. I simply love Donovan and his Dirty Banana’s too much. I just value whiskey during the day at The Ritz more than I value knowledge. Lobster Rolls at The Lookout are just more important than science at this point in my life. Sorry, not sorry.