A rare complication that can occur when bitten by one of these spiders is rotting of the flesh. Verified bites by yellow sac spiders (genus Cheiracanthium) in the United States and Australia: where is the necrosis? The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene, 74(6), 1043-1048. In serious cases, a yellow sac spider bite can lead to anaphylactic shock. University of California Press.īradley, R. Field Guide to the Spiders of California and the Pacific Coast States (Vol. Check out his blog post about yellow sac spiders and the taking of this picture.Īnother myth holds that these spiders are attracted to the smell of gasoline. Yellow sac spiders were responsible for the recall of several thousand carsbut there is no actual evidence that they like the smell of gas.Īdams, R. Note that it is NOT biting, but rather trying to escape! Photo by Andrew Hoffman, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. (There’s probably one or more in your house, and you’ve almost certainly never been bitten – you’d know it if you had!) Remember that spiders don’t bitehumans except in very rare circumstances.Ĭheiracanthium sp. Because they often live in close association with humans, bites from these spiders may be more common than spider bites in general, but still extremely rare. They do have a rather painful bite – like a bee or wasp sting – but the results of envenomation are not serious. Their bad reputation turns out to be undeserved – they do NOT cause necrotic lesions like brown recluse spiders as was once thought. Myth-bustingįor a time, Cheiracanthium was considered one of three ‘medically significant’ spider genera in North America, along with the recluse spiders ( Loxosceles) and the widow spiders ( Latrodectus). When a male finds a female in her sleep sac, they tap on the outside of the silk retreat (how polite!) and then start cutting the silk away from the entrance (less mannerly). The cephalothorax (fused head and thorax) of the. Yellow Sac Spiders are light yellow to pale yellowish green, sometimes with a orange-brown stripe on top of the abdomen. Yellow sac spiders are active nocturnal hunters, but in addition to insects and other arthropods, they also feed on extrafloral nectaries of plants such as castor bean. Most people think of spiders as strict carnivores, but in practice many spiders have a more varied diet. Yellow sac spiders are active hunters, searching for prey rather than capturing it within a web. The Yellow Sac Spider is very common in most of the United States and is the cause of a lot of spider bites and other unwanted encounters. They may rebuild these retreats every night just before dawn, and rest inside during the day. Natural History: Yellow sac spiders build silk ‘sleep-sacs’ in rolled up leaves (when living in the great outdoors) or where walls meet ceilings inside houses. Photo: Natalie McNear, licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.
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