A Mississippi man is suing American Airlines after he says he was bitten by a brown recluse spider onboard a 2016 flight and nearly lost his thumb.

Marcus Fleming was seated on the plane waiting to take off from the airport in Jackson, Miss., on Sept. 6, 2016, when he was bitten, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court last week. By the time he landed, Fleming said, his hand was in extreme pain and his thumb had changed colors.

Fleming underwent emergency surgery, a step his doctor said was necessary to avoid amputating his thumb, according to the lawsuit.

Brown recluse spiders have venom that can be harmful to humans, with bite areas sloughing off skin to form open wounds that can lead to complications including death.

The flight was operated by Air Wisconsin, a regional carrier contracted to fly for American under the American Eagle brand until earlier this year. Although American's crews wouldn't have worked the flight, Fleming would have purchased his ticket through the Fort Worth-based carrier.

"We take the safety of our passengers very seriously and we are reviewing the allegations of the complaint," an American spokesman said Wednesday.

In its petition to transfer the case to a federal court, lawyers for Air Wisconsin said American was "erroneously" named as a defendant.

The Fort Worth-based carrier told Jackson's Clarion-Ledger newspaper that it's reviewing the allegations of the complaint.

In his suit, Fleming alleges American was negligent by failing to inspect the airplane for dangerous conditions and requests $500,000 in damages to cover medical expenses, pain and suffering and emotional distress. The suit also names Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport as a defendant.

Fleming said he alerted a flight attendant that something had bitten him, but she responded that it was probably just a mosquito bite.