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Couple finds brown widow spider in Oregon City

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — An Oregon City couple found a spider on their property that has only previously been known to live in California, Gulf states and Florida.

The man, who works for Axiom Eco Pest Control, took the spider in a jar to his boss to identify it. 

A brown widow spider and its egg sacs. (Courtesy of Oregon Department of Agriculture) 

“That orange hourglass — he instantly knew it was something new or different and seemed out of place,” Axiom technical director Christine Wilson said. 

After realizing it was a brown widow, they contacted the Oregon Department of Agriculture, which is now investigating because this type of spider isn’t usually found in Oregon. They don’t know how it got here. 

“The presumption would be maybe someone moved into the neighborhood from California,” entomologist Joshua Vlach said. “They were packing up their boxes in their garage, one climbed in.” 

The Department of Agriculture canvassed the River Crest neighborhood but haven’t found any other brown widows.

“We weren’t able to find any more,” Vlach said. “This is the one known and the one egg sac that was found by the owner.”

The egg sac found with this spider did hatch — thankfully it was inside the jar.

“I personally find it hard to believe that it is the only spider in the area,” Vlach said. “That would be super lucky. That it was that one spider that came out of the box that came from California that happened to crawl underneath the guy’s BBQ grill.” 

Vlach said one of the main concerns with this spider is that it can overwinter, so they could find more in the spring and that could cause problems in this region. 

Brown widows have similar venom to black widows and their bites are considered “medically significant.” They have an orange hourglass on the bottom on their body and spiny egg sacs.

If you think you find a brown widow or egg sac, contact the Oregon Department of Agriculture at 503.986.4636 or via email at plant-entomologists@oda.state.or.us