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Latrodectus mactans, known as southern black widow or simply black widow, and the shoe-button spider, [citation needed] is a venomous species of spider in the genus Latrodectus. The females are well known for their distinctive black and red coloring and for the fact that they will occasionally eat their mates after reproduction.
The eye arrangement of spiders in the genus Latrodectus. Female widow spiders are typically dark brown or a shiny black in colour when they are full grown, usually exhibiting a red or orange hourglass on the ventral surface (underside) of the abdomen; some may have a pair of red spots or have no marking at all.
The redback spider (Latrodectus hasselti), also known as the Australian black widow, [2] [3] [4] is a species of highly venomous spider believed to originate in Australia but now, Southeast Asia and New Zealand, it has also been found in packing crates in the United States with colonies elsewhere outside Australia. [5]
Latrodectus hesperus, the western black widow spider or western widow, is a venomous spider species found in western regions of North America. The female's body is 14–16 mm (1/2 in) in length and is black, often with an hourglass-shaped red mark on the lower abdomen. This "hourglass" mark can be red, yellow, and on rare occasions, white.
Since black widows, as well as many other insects, typically build their nests in abandoned crevices and corners, giving things a periodic vacuum or sweep is a great way to keep the widows at bay ...
Black widow spiders are tough to identify as well. Only female black widows have the characteristic red hourglass-shaped markings on their backs. Male and immature black widows have tan and white ...
A male Eresus sandaliatus. Sexual selection in spiders shows how sexual selection explains the evolution of phenotypic traits in spiders.Male spiders have many complex courtship rituals and have to avoid being eaten by the females, with the males of most species surviving only a few matings and consequently having short life-spans.
The prevalence of sexual cannibalism gives several species of Latrodectus the common name "black widow spider". Sexual cannibalism is when an animal, usually the female, cannibalizes its mate prior to, during, or after copulation. [1] This trait is observed in many arachnid orders, several insect and crustacean clades, [2] gastropods, and some ...