Get to know Lou Coticchio
In this video, Lou discusses his ground-breaking research on both the recluse and black widow species while at the University of South Florida in St. Petersburg. Lou speaks about his Bite Project, common misconceptions, what he does when he goes on site for a reported recluse population, and more!
Filmed by Mike Ringer at Skill Capture Media
Recluse Spiders in an HVAC Warehouse
Come with Lou as he investigates Mediterranean recluse spiders found in an HVAC warehouse in Tampa, Florida. An individual Mediterranean recluse spider was submitted to the Florida Department of Agriculture back in 2014. None of the current owners or employees were aware of the presence of the recluse spiders or who originally submitted the spider to the FDASC. No one at this business has ever experienced a bite, even with these spiders living in and around the tools, supplies, and equipment they use every day.
Filmed by Mike Ringer at Skill Capture Media
Lou Holds a Recluse
In this video, we go through the Spider Room at the University of South Florida, Research Lab 108, where Lou conducted most of his research. This was the room where all of the widow and recluse spiders collected from various sites across Florida were being held, where spiders were being bred for further research, and where groundbreaking discoveries and observations were formulated. Lou takes us through information on widow identification based on markings and egg sac designs, where widow and recluse spiders can be found, differences between recluse and Southern house spiders, as well as other common house spiders, and yes, he holds a recluse spider! The dreaded yet misunderstood Loxosceles reclusa, or more commonly known as the brown recluse spider! We remind you to please not handle spiders unless you are trained to do so.
Filmed by Mike Ringer at Skill Capture Media
Testing Recluse Spider Bite Reactions
This video is a compilation of short recordings from the recluse spider bite behavior experiment performed at the University of South Florida Research Lab 108. Where recluse spiders were tested to see their reactions and defensiveness to various threats to the spiders. To test the bite proclivity of recluse spiders when disturbed, we subjected the brown recluse species, the Mediterranean recluse, and three species of wolf spiders (Lycosidae) to a series of five threats using gel tools. These threats were from low threat levels, such as grabbing the legs and poking the face, to higher threat levels, such as squeezing the spiders from the sides, pressing the whole body of the spiders while in both the prone and supine positions. Across all treatments, recluse spiders exhibited negligible biting responses (median = 0%), whereas wolf spiders responded defensively in the majority of trials (median = 80%).
All videos were taken as part of the research performed at the University of South Florida Research Lab in St. Petersburg, Florida, which was published in the Journal of Medical Entomology in February of 2026. These experiments were recorded by Sarah Meltzer and Raevin Kizer.