A ministry of agriculture investigates after a woman from Oregon City has found a brown spider

by KATU News, Keaton Thomas

OREGON CITY, Ore. – The brown widow spider, cousin of the black widow, was first discovered in Oregon, according to the Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA).

Marci Beddingfield spotted the spider under the grate behind his home in Oregon City in September. She did not know what it was at first. It looked like a black widow, but it was not.

"After examining it, we saw an hourglass that was not red, it was orange, and the spider was brown and not black," she said.

Beddingfield says that they searched online and learned that it may have been a brown widow. Beddingfield's boyfriend works for a local pest control company. A colleague helped identify the spider. They sent it to the ODA, with the spider's separate egg bag, for confirmation. According to the ODA, this is the first time this spider is reported in Oregon.

"I was shocked to find that none of them has been reported in Oregon," Beddingfield said.

Experts say the brown widow is a tropical spider, usually found in Florida, California and around the Gulf of Mexico. On the west coast, it is said that this is almost never seen north of Los Angeles. The experts are not sure how the brown widow came to Oregon, but they suspect that she had stopped in California. They do not think it will establish a population here. ODA scientists are working to determine if it already has one.

The brown widow is an invasive spider and she is venomous. Their bite is considered "medically significant", but experts say that it is less harmful to humans than the black widow.

Black widows have a shiny black body with a red hourglass. Brown widows can range from tan to dark brown and often have an orange hourglass. The easiest way to identify a brown widow is to use an egg bag, which looks like thorny balls.

Experts say that there is no reason to panic. The brown widow is a shy spider and rarely bites.

"Brown widows are generally not as dangerous to people as black widows, and black widows have existed from time immemorial in the south and east of Oregon, so an occasional brunette widow Is not really a new desperate danger for people! " says Rod Crawford, a spider expert.

Research also suggests that this could actually make human beings safer. If a population of brown widows was established, it was proven that it surpassed its cousin more harmful to the territory, thus putting the human beings less in danger.

Anyone who thinks they have found a brown widow should take a picture and contact the Oregon Department of Agriculture at the address [email protected] or at (503). ) 986-4636.