The Violin Spider: How to Distinguish It from the Philistidae Spider, the Most Important Detail

Spiders are once again in the news, and here comes an expert to help, explaining how to distinguish the infamous brown recluse spider, the only species, along with the black widow, that is actually dangerous to humans—both in reality deadly—from the common silk spider, more common in our latitudes and harmless in the event of a bite.

A 38-year-old woman in Rome is thought to have died from a violin spider.

The brown recluse spider is back in the news after a 38-year-old woman was reportedly bitten on the thigh by the arachnid while at home.

Following the sting, she went to the hospital three times complaining of severe pain, and only after the third admission to the hospital was she transferred to the Spallanzani , a center renowned for treating infectious diseases, where she remained until her health conditions deteriorated, leading to her death.

There has been talk of a brown recluse spider, but there is no certainty about this. For this reason, an expert was consulted to explain how it differs from more common spiders.

The Violin Spider vs. the Philist Spider, a comment from ecologist Bonifazi

Ecologist Andrea Bonifazi published a post on his Instagram page “Scienze Naturali” where he contrasted two spiders, the violin spider and the filistrata spider, through a collage of photos.

The main element that differentiates the Violin Spider from the more common one is the uniform color of the belly and the fact that the limbs are long and thin but attention must also be paid to the number of eyes , as reported by Fanpage , since the Violin Spider , being part of the Sicariidae spider family, has three pairs of eyes unlike the eight eyes that the most common species in Italy have.

This isn't a detail that's immediately obvious, of course, but Bonifazi wants to emphasize how fear often leads people to kill a spider, the Philistidae, which is harmless to humans and could easily survive. However, at the same time, it's easy to understand the fear of this type of animal, which is common among many people around the world.