spider

the location is central N.C.it was not in a web (either of them)they were on the bottom of my tomatoes in the garden.This was outdoors.It was about the size of a quarter (that's including leg spand).Im terribly afraid of spiders,so now I want go back out there.silly I know.looked just like a black widow except for the white circles around the red ones and the white dots,got the heck outta there so I don't know about the under side.

juvenile black widows.

Just to give an idea:

Latrodectus variolus (Guide Page)


Latrodectus mactans (Guide Page)


If these don't look exactly like it, remember that there's quite a bit of variation of markings between individuals and between growth stages.

Males and females start out looking generally the same, but the female turns blacker and blacker as she matures until only the hourglass markings are still visible. Meanwhile, the male's markings remain basically the same type into adulthood.

Because of this variation, it's not always possible to tell species using markings for immatures and males in places where more than one species is found- though experience with the species in question may help (I have none, so I wouldn't know).

thanks Don and Chuck,that's the little bugger.I guess he or she can have those tomatoes im sure not going to mess with it:-)