It sounds like a throw-away excuse, but spiders really did prevent students from heading to the library at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor.
Three Mediterranean recluse spiders had taken up residence at the library at the end of January, MLive reported.
They are a cousin to the brown recluse spider, according to CNN.
They were found during a routine building check.
A spider expert said that the variation of spider hitches rides throughout the world. So far they’ve been found in 22 states, Ann Danielson-Francois said. Danielson-Francois is a professor at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, WJBK reported.
They are venomous and can cause necrosis, or eating away of flesh.
The Shapiro Undergraduate Library was closed for two days but reopened after a deep cleaning, WJBK reported.
This isn’t the first time spiders have been found at the university with officials saying that they have been found in basements of other buildings on campus due to low occupancy, CNN reported. Those locations are also being treated by pest management.
Danielson-Francois said she will be using the spiders in class to teach students how to identify the species of spiders correctly.
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