Thought brown recluses were only native to the mid western states...???
Brown recluses are indeed poisonous but they're not aggressive. They don't just walk up and bite you. In fact they're more scared of you than you are of them, but if you happen to be a fool enough to pick one up or if one gets caught between your skin and your clothing, they will bite.
Many folks exclaim "I saw a brown spider, I think it's a brown recluse". The easiest way to determine a brown recluse is to look at it's back. There's a violin shape on it's back. In the above pic, the "violin" marking is the darker part of the spider's body, with the neck of the violin towards it's rear and the main body of the violin towards it's head.
Best thing to do is shake out any clothing you haven't worn in a while and look before you place your hand in cool dark undisturbed areas, where brown recluses like to hide out. And yes if you are bitten by a brown recluse you need to seek medical attention immediatley, as their venom is so powerful it deteriorates your flesh away to an open ulcer style wound.
Here in Missouri we have brown recluses...so far I've ran into 3 of them, all of them succumbed to death.
