Goals of
the Project
Dr. Ken Cramer at Monmouth College is
continuing a long-term project to determine the distribution of the brown
recluse spider in northern Illinois and southern Iowa. Because of the medical importance of the
spider, we hope a more precise understanding of their distribution will
help professionals and the public avoid misdiagnoses and
misidentifications. A second goal of the project is to provide
accurate, up-to-date scientifically verified information on the brown
recluse spider. The navigation bar at left offers general information on
brown recluses that may be of interest to the general public. Dr.
Cramer is an arachnologist (a scientist who studies spiders), not a
physician and he does not offer diagnoses of skin lesions or other medical
conditions (see "Bite Diagnoses").
Background
The
natural northern distribution limit of brown recluses occurs in central Illinois
(see “Map – Where Are They?” on the navigation bar at left) and southern or
central Iowa. A few isolated brown recluse specimens have been recorded
from the greater Chicago metropolitan area and southern Wisconsin. Only a
handful of localities in Chicago (single buildings) have confirmed recluse
spiders in the past 5 years. If
you suspect you have brown recluses after reviewing the photos on this web
page, please send me a specimen for verification. To more precisely
document where the brown recluse lives in northern Illinois, Wisconsin, and
southern Iowa, we are requesting the participation of as many interested
parties as possible to send us spiders for identification.
Help
with our study
We
want your spiders! We are especially interested in spiders collected in the
Illinois/Iowa area. If you live in Illinois, we are soliciting
spiders collected in northern Illinois, particularly north of
highway I-70, or north of a line running East-West through East St.
Louis. If you live anywhere in
Iowa, we want your house spiders. This study is ongoing -- if you
encounter this web site, we still want your spiders. If you live
outside of Illinois or Iowa and think you might have a brown recluse, feel
free to send me your spider and I will identify it for you. If you
live in Indiana or Ohio, visit this page and support Brian Foster's project
documenting the distribution of recluses in those states:
http://www.indstate.edu/biology/BrownRecluseProject.htm.
Please send any spiders (more on
mailing spiders) for this study to Dr. Cramer at
the address below:
Dr.
Ken Cramer
Brown Recluse ID Project
Dept. of Biology
Monmouth College
Monmouth, IL 61462
You may
also contact Dr. Cramer at kenc@monm.edu