(Photo: Wendy Varnado, Mississippi Department of Health)

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - A new survey shows Southern California is seeing a growing population of brown widow spiders, and in some areas, they are outnumbering the long-feared black widow, according to The Los Angeles Times. 

Richard Vetter, staff research associate at UC Riverside and coauthor of the survey, told the newspaper the brown widow is "really taking over."

The survey was conducted by several California entomologists and will be published in the Journal of Medical Entomology. When searching near homes in Orange and Riverside counties, brown widows were found at a rate 20 times greater than the rate of black widows.

Vetter told The Times the spiders are fond of cheap patio furniture such as plastic chairs. Read the full story here.