which spider is more deadly a brown reculse or a black widow?

Question

I want to know which one is worse from a bite. Dont say both are just as deadly. I have a bet going on here. thanks =-)

Answer 1

The black widow is more deadly in almost every respect than the brown recluse.

- 5% of black widow bites result in death. Only 1.5% of recluse bites do.

- Black widows live in a vast area compared to the brown recluse.

- A black widow is far more aggressive and often bites people before the person knows they're around. A recluse generally only bites a person if it is physically pressed against the skin of a person (which happens if they're trapped in your clothes).

- Most people who have reported black widow bites are men who were bitten on their GENETALIA at they sat on their toilet and surprised a spider inside it. Ouch!

Answer 2

I'd have different answers depending on whether it's "more deadly" or just plain "worse".

A black widow spider is more deadly as it's more likely to result in death (I have afeeling no deaths have happened in quite a while due to hospitals being well stocked in antivenom so the stas nowadays will be much lower than what was given by the other answerer). The bites are more deadly to children which you'll see if you check out the mortality rates. They're meant to be Americas version of the redback just bigger (easier to see but more venomous I think). The toilet seat thing is a bit of an urban myth.

Brown recluse's aren't really deadly at all (by deadly I mean they're not likely to make one dead). Their bite causes tissue necrosis (i.e. the flesh gets eaten away leaving a gaping hole) which is not pretty. In the worst case it means amputation.

Still I'd rather a black widow bite even though it's more deadly. As long as it doesn't kill you (which i'm pretty confident of), you'll recover perfectly with all limbs attached.

The deadliness of most spiders are quite overrated. Even the bite of funnelwebs which chase you around the garden and bite through your shoes is treated easily enough.

Answer 3

You asked which spider's bite is worse than the other? I say the brown recluse's bit is worse, as it causes severe skin deformation and destruction of tissue. Some people never get over the massive destruction to their skin. The Black Widow can put you in the hospital with a minimal impact on the bite zone.
Check out the damage on the net from a Brown Recluse bite.

Answer 4

The detailed answer given by cookie is correct.
What perhaps should be mentioned is that the
brown recluse is just one of many species of the
genus Loxosceles and the others are not really
correctly called brown recluses. There is no
general common name for the genus, although
some people have referred to them as brown spiders, which is not very informative, there being
so many different kinds of brown spiders. In the
same way the American black widows are just a
few of the many species of Latrodectus which,
however, can all be correctly called widow spiders.
The brown recluse of the United States and its
several relatives (there are altogether about 11 in
the U.S.) have a mortality rate of about zero. The
figure of 1.5% mortality rate is, as indicated, for
some of the South American species.

Answer 5

A Black Widow

Answer 6

If I had a choice, I would take a black widow bite...

Answer 7

Brown recluse

Answer 8

Black Widow Spiders
The black widow spider (Latrodectus spp.) is a spider notorious for its neurotoxic venom. It is a large widow spider found throughout the world and commonly associated with urban habitats or agricultural areas. Although the common name 'black widow spider' is most commonly used to refer to the three North American species best known for their dark coloration and red hourglass pattern, it is occasionally also applied to several other members of the Latrodectus (widow spider) genus in which there are 31 recognized species including the Australian red-back, brown widow spider (sometimes called the gray widow), and the red widow spider. In South Africa, widow spiders are also known as the button spiders.

Currently, there are three recognized species of black widow found in North America: The southern black widow (L. mactans), the northern black widow (L. variolus), and the western black widow (L. hesperus). As the name indicates, the southern widow is primarily found (and is indigenous to) the southeastern United States, ranging from Florida to New York, and west to Texas and Oklahoma. Specimens have been found further west as well. The northern widow is found primarily in the northeastern US and southeastern Canada, though its ranges overlap that of L. mactans quite a bit. The western widow is found in the western half of the United States, as well as in southwestern Canada and much of Mexico. Prior to 1970, when the current taxonomic divisions for North American black widows were set forth by Kaston, all three varieties were classified as a single species, L. mactans. As a result, there exist numerous references which claim that "black widow" (without any geographic modifier) applies to L. mactans alone. As common usage of the term "black widow" makes no distinction between the three species (and many laypersons are unaware of the differences between them).

Although their venom is extremely potent, these spiders are not especially large. Compared to many other species of spiders, their chelicerae are not very large or powerful. In the case of a mature female, the hollow, needle shaped part of each chelicera, the part that penetrates the skin, is approximately 1.0 mm (around .04 inch) long, sufficiently long to inject the venom to a dangerous depth. The males, being much smaller, can inject far less venom and inject it far less deeply. The actual amount injected, even by a mature female, is very small in physical volume. When this small amount of venom is diffused throughout the body of a healthy, mature human, it usually does not amount to a fatal dose (thought it can produce the very unpleasant symptoms of Latrodectism). Deaths in healthy adults from Latrodectus bites are relatively rare in terms of the number of bites per thousand people. Only sixty-three deaths were reported in the United States between 1950 and 1989 (Miller, 1992). On the other hand, the geographical range of the widow spiders is very great. As a result, far more people are exposed, world-wide, to widow bites than are exposed to bites of more dangerous spiders, so the highest number of deaths world-wide are caused by members of their genus. Widow spiders have more potent venom than most spiders, and prior to the development of antivenom, 5% of reported bites result in fatalities.

Improvements in plumbing have greatly reduced the incidence of bites and fatalities in areas where outdoor privies have been replaced by flush toilets. "Nearly half the black widow bites reported in the medical literature of the first 4 decades of [the twentieth] century were inflicted on the male genitalia by spiders lurking underneath the seats of outdoor toilets


Brown Recluse Spiders
The brown recluse spider is a venomous spider, Loxosceles reclusa, of the family Sicariidae (formerly of the family Loxoscelidae). It is usually between 1/4 and 3/4 inch (6.4-19.1mm) but may grow larger. It is brown and usually has markings on the dorsal side of its cephalothorax, with a black line coming from it that looks like a violin with the neck of the violin pointing to the rear of the spider resulting in the nickname "fiddleback spider" or "violin spider". Coloring varies from light tan to brown and the violin marking may not be visible. Since the "violin pattern" is not diagnostic, for purposes of identification it is far more important to examine the eyes. Differing from most spiders, which have 8 eyes, recluse spiders have 6 eyes arranged in pairs (dyads) with one median pair and 2 lateral pairs. Only a few other spiders have 3 pairs of eyes arranged this way (e.g., scytodids), and recluses can be distinguished from these as recluse abdomens have no coloration pattern nor do their legs, which also lack spines.

The brown recluse spider is native to the United States from the southern Midwest south to the Gulf of Mexico. The native range lies roughly south of a line from southeastern Nebraska through southern Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana to southwestern Ohio. In the southern states, it is native from central Texas to western Georgia. They are generally not found west of the Rocky Mountains.

Recluse spiders, which also include Mediterranean recluse spider (Loxosceles rufescens), build irregular webs that frequently include a shelter consisting of disorderly threads. Unlike most web weavers, they leave these webs at night to hunt. People get bitten when they unintentionally squeeze them in clothing and bedding.

These spiders frequently build their webs in woodpiles and sheds, closets, garages, and other places that are dry and generally undisturbed.

As indicated by its name, this spider is not aggressive and usually bites only when pressed against human skin, such as when putting on an article of clothing. Actual brown recluse bites are rare and few. The initial bite frequently cannot be felt. Most bites are minor with no necrosis, but a small number produce severe dermonecrotic lesions or even systemic conditions (viscerocutaneous loxoscelism) with occasional fatalities.

The serious bites form a necrotising ulcer that destroys soft tissue and may take months and very rarely years to heal, leaving deep scars. The damaged tissue will become gangrenous and eventually slough away. Initially there may be no pain from a bite, but over time the wound may grow to as large as 10 inches (25 cm) in extreme cases. Bites may take up to seven hours to cause visible damage; more serious systemic effects may occur before this time, as venom of any kind spreads throughout the body in minutes. Deaths (1.5% of all cases) have been reported for the related South American species L. laeta and L. intermedia.

Most deadly is BLACK WIDOW SPIDER

Answer 9

i hate them both !!!!!!!! but i dont know the answer to your question