Black widow? - Latrodectus variolus

Moved

… Lynette Elliott, 19 July, 2010 - 4:38pm

L. variolus. had several that

L. variolus. had several that looked EXACTLY like this :) ventral shot would be nice, but i'm pretty confident with just this pic.

… widowman10, 19 July, 2010 - 11:02am

Moved

to the genus page for now. I also cropped a little of the extra stuff out. Nice shot.

… Lynette Elliott, 13 June, 2008 - 7:12pm

Looks like one to me

Black widows usually have an hourglass underneath, but some also have red on top. As I understand it, the young females have much more red on the abdomen, but more and more of the red is replaced by black each time she sheds her exoskeleton, until the red is all gone except for the hourglass underneath. Sometimes the process doesn't go all the way to the end, so markings can vary.

… Chuck Entz, 13 June, 2008 - 4:58pm

That is indeed a black widow.

That is indeed a black widow. Probably Latrodectus mactans.

It isn't uncommon for them to have red markings on their back as well as the red hourglass on their underside.

… Jebus31, 13 June, 2008 - 4:51pm

Northern Black Widow

Latrodectus variolus. Northern Black Widows tend to have a broken hourglass pattern, while the Southern species has the classic complete hourglass. More info on the markings here. Glad to hear from someone who doesn't automatically stomp these guys. Too much senseless violence in this world already.

… Patrick Theobald, 13 June, 2008 - 4:51pm

Stomping...

My wife having spent 4 days in the hospital, followed by 4 weeks off work and a lengthy recuperation after that as a result of a Black Widow bite... well, we pretty much stomp 'em, I'm sorry to say. The ones you see aren't the ones that are the problem. It's true that most bites are not deadly. Her bite got right into a nerve on her wrist, resulting in quite a lot of neurological involvement, and apparently she got a blood infection which went septic after a week. Black widows CAN pack quite a bite. Respect them.

… HLippold, 21 January, 2009 - 1:37am

"Too much senseless violence

"Too much senseless violence in this world already." --I agree!

Thank you all for confirming this shiny little girl as a black widow :) Since moving to this part of the country, we've checked this site a few times for the new insects we're not used to seeing (we're from the Pacific Northwest). This place has GREAT bugs :)

… Jennifer Glass, 13 June, 2008 - 10:11pm