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Recluse Spider Season Is a Myth


The venom of recluse spiders can be dangerous, but the idea of there being a “season” when these arachnids invade homes and bite is unhelpful and wrong.

“The media play an important role in the construction and circulation of the perception of risk associated with animals,” states a research paper published in the journal Current Biology in 2022. Spiders are also important allies in our homes, keeping at bay various organisms that can become pests, such as flies, codling moths, and mosquitoes, some of which may be vectors of disease. “In any case, the ones who invaded their natural space are us, human beings,” said Alejandro Valdez Mondragón, leader of the research group behind the “discovery,” in an interview for National Geographic at the time.

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