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Photo#801365
pair of spiders - Latrodectus mactans

pair of spiders - Latrodectus mactans
~6 mi. E of Vivian, Caddo Parish, Louisiana, USA
July 8, 2013

Moved
Moved from Widow Spiders.

yep, mactans
yep, mactans

Moved for expert review.
Moved from ID Request.

Southern Black Widow (L. mactans) looks right to me.

Confirmation
I will confirm this is certainly Latrodectus mactans. These spider are considered dangerously venomous to humans, and simple precautions can be taken to avoid a bite in the case of encountering a widow. In areas were you might encounter one, I would suggest wearing gloves, and not to poke around any webs. I have actually handled Latrodectus geometricus (The black widows' close relative, the brown widow) before, with no resulting bites.Recent studies however show that latrodectus geometricus may not dangerously venomous, so it wasn't really much of a risk. I hope this helped.

Northern Black Widows
again, not an expert, but my guess is these are Northern Black Widows, but experts will know for certain, as there are a few other possibilities, I think.

 
Well, I may have to spray my
Well, I may have to spray my well shed after all. I was trying not to this year but I found at least 8-10 of these in there and couldn't move without encountering them. I was hoping they were harmless look-a-likes or something. Hopefully an expert verifies.

 
widows
It looks like you have a male and female in this shot...

update based on comments on your other image...The unbroken hourglass does seem to indicate Southern Black Widow, sorry for the hasty guess!

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