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Hello. I recently discovered this spider (dead) in my bathroom. I live in the UK, but have never seen this spider before, nor has anyone I have shown it too. Though the picture does not show it very well, the spider is bristling with black hairs over its legs and is about the size of a bottle top. Any onfo would be great.

It could be a brown recluse maybe. I'm not entirely sure on that though.

Not an expert here.

This does, at least at a glance, look like it could have been a recluse... the structure of its body looks a lot alike, you can almost see the "violin" mark on the body, but I've read that a really hairy spider (to the naked eye) isn't a recluse even with the proper markings.

Also, just scanning the internet, some sites mention the eyes as a marker of the recluse. That the recluse has three sets of two eyes (so six total) in a semicircular pattern, and most other spiders have eight.

Here is a link to a pic I ran into...

Eyes of Brown Recluse Spider - Loxosceles reclusa on Flickr - Photo Sharing! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimmysmith/151908953/)

Can't tell from your pic the number of eyes or the pattern well... but it does kind of look like the linked pic...

Again, not an expert in this area...

But a recluse spider is not native to the UK and is poisonous - there are no poisonous spiders in the UK. Should it actually turn out to be one of these I'm worried! Could it be an escaped pet? Perhaps (I hope) it is a benign relative. I'm trying to find out now as I am slightly scared...

I've just been told that brown recluses aren't as big as a bottletop phew

Right also no expert but for all the european spiders I have looked at it seems the most like the phylus of crab spiders. In the pic it looks like it's abdoman has been crushed/ pulled away so I have been going on if it had a larger one.
Philodromidae (http://www.xs4all.nl/~ednieuw/Spiders/Philodromidae/Philodromidae.htm)
Have to stop looking now it's giving me the creeps!

There are different types of recluse spiders, not all poisonous. This could be a relative :)

Are you counting the legs when you describe its size, or just its body (abdomen, head, thorax)

First, would just like to thank everybody for such a swift response. Sorry about rubbish size description, I have now measuerd it properly. The prosoma is 4mm wide and 5mm long. The abdoman is indeed shrivelled so I did not bother to measure it. The total length of the front legs are 31mm. I hope that's enough info for you to work the rest out. I do not have a magnifying glass so I can't quite see the eyes properly, but to the naked eye it looks like a semicicle of 4 eyes at the top and 2 eyes nestled inside the arch. I will purchase a magnifying glass and try to get a better look if you need a better description. For your information also, I live in the south of England; climate wise that means mild winters. I understand that the last 5 years have been the warmest in recored history, which in terms of arachnids has meant a relative of the black widow (the false widow) which first arrived here in around 1870 has started to increase dramatically in terms of population for the first time as the winters are not killing them off anymore.(They only live in SE of England). That may not be of any use to know, but I am no expert so I thought I would shove it in for good measure.
Having looked at Templelanes link I am thinking it looks a bit like philodromae of some sort. Thank you.

I think it's a crab-spider they are related to the spider-crab ( spider-crabs live in seas are standart 1 meter (3feet) long and are very hairy):eek:

Again, this question is three years old. Please check the dates before you answer. Jonbot hasn't been back, so I don't think he needs any more answers.