Different color male Western Black Widow - Latrodectus hesperus - BugGuide.Net

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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Chelicerates (Chelicerata) » Arachnids (Arachnida) » Spiders (Araneae) » True Spiders (Araneomorphae) » Entelegynae » Cobweb Spiders (Theridiidae) » Widow Spiders (Latrodectus) » Western Black Widow (Latrodectus hesperus)

Photo#1295571

Copyright © 2016 Carol Davis

Different color male Western Black Widow - Latrodectus hesperus -

Taylorsville, Salt Lake County, Utah, USA
September 21, 2016

I've seen a lot of male black widows but never a mature one with this black of abdomen - and with an crackled orange stripe. It was gorgeous. I assume it must be the Western Black Widow?

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Different color male Western Black Widow - Latrodectus hesperus - male

Different color male Western Black Widow - Latrodectus hesperus - male

Different color male Western Black Widow - Latrodectus hesperus - male

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Contributed by Carol Davis on 21 September, 2016 - 7:41pm
Last updated 20 June, 2017 - 3:02pm

Moved

Moved from Widow Spiders.

… Jeff Hollenbeck, 20 June, 2017 - 3:02pm

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Very

nice find!
Did you collect it? Any chance of ventral view?
The crackled appearance is common in many widow species, here's another example. Something to do with amino acids, iirc.

Also, not mature, subadult, and it would likely be L. hesperus, but is it possible this is a Steatoda?

If indeed hesperus, you may have found a unique individual, or a regional hesperus variation with similarly colored specimens, or maybe subspecies or new species... who knows.

… Jeff Hollenbeck, 22 September, 2016 - 11:42am

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Unfortunately, he got away...

I'm not too adept at handling spiders and in my attempts to turn him over, he got away (he was quick). It did look like he had some yellow or red underneath but I can't be sure. I'm going to go to the shed today and see if I can find any others. If there are others out there, they should stand out like a beacon like this one did. Thanks for all the information.

… Carol Davis, 22 September, 2016 - 1:35pm

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Good

luck! Hope you find some more. Really cool variation.
We have a couple examples of dark male westerns here actually:

… Jeff Hollenbeck, 22 September, 2016 - 6:54pm

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Thanks, Jeff...

I didn't find one yesterday but I'm not giving up hope.

… Carol Davis, 23 September, 2016 - 11:56am

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