Dark brown spider with a white violin marking?

Where do you live?

Arkansas. I’ll also note that the spider was probably barely an inch long. Pretty thin bodied.

Here are images of the brown recluse. The classic feature is a violin-shaped marking on the front part (cephalo-thorax) of the body.

@gasman It had a very distinct white marking on its back. I’m also pretty sure my spider is a lot darker, too

@meagan Well I guess it’s not a brown recluse. That & black widow are the only ones I worry about.

Was it shaped similarly to the recluse? I can’t seem to find anything like what you’re describing… which leads me to assume that it is harmless.

Yeah, I’m keeping my finger’s crossed that this is a house spider. I’m only asking because I found this on my pillow.. argh..
From what I see, the legs on mine look shorter than the recluse.

I’m also going to assume that it was wandering… and thats probably the only spider I’ll find in my bed for a very, very long time..

Yeeeuck. On your pillow? That’s the worst!

Was it fuzzy looking or smooth? With a shape similar to the recluse, but shorter legs, it could have been some type of jumping spider.

It was smooth.

Is it a hobo spider?

Not really. I think it might have been a jumping spider, actually. (Do they actually jump? I remember this one.. darting out of sight rather quickly..)

Yes, they actually jump. We get them around here and some of them jump crazy high, but for the most part they just hop… and they are really fast.

Yep. I’m going to convince myself that it was a small jumping spider, and there aren’t anymore around. Thanks!

Sounds like a recluse, I’ve never seen white on a jumping spider or any house spider. Whatever it was, you should still start shaking your clothes before you put them on and check your bedding also.

Sounds like a fiddle back spider, brown recluse is another name for them. They’re nasty if you are bitten.

Thanks for the replies, all. Didn’t check Fluther until today. The spider was a house spider. Had a friend of mine scope out the body a few hours later. :P But thank you.

I was bitten on the knee by a spider several years ago, not sure what kind it was but it was really really nasty, my knee swelled up 3x it’s normal size and there a was a huge green, blue and black knot. It went away after 3 days on it’s own, but it was damn scary.