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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 yellow, and on rare occasions, white.
Latrodectism (/ l æ t r ə ˈ d ɛ k t ɪ z əm /) is the illness caused by the bite of Latrodectus spiders (the black widow spider and related species). Pain, muscle rigidity, vomiting, and sweating are the symptoms of latrodectism.
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.
They are small to medium-sized spiders found near the ground of eucalypt forest in small sheet webs. The species of this family are only present in Australia and Papua New Guinea. In most cases the cephalothorax and legs are uniformly red and the abdomen black, for which these species are sometimes called the "red and black spiders".
Like the black widow species in the United States, L. geometricus has a prominent hourglass-shaped marking on the underside of the abdomen; the brown widow's hourglass, however, is usually a vivid orange or a yellowish color. Unlike the black widow, L. geometricus has a black-and-white geometric pattern on the dorsal side of its abdomen. They ...
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 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]
Like all spiders in the genus Latrodectus, females are larger than males. Females range from 7 to 16 mm, and the males 2.5 to 5 mm. In maturity, most retain at least short red stripes radiating upward from the tip of the dorsal abdomen. Like many black widows, it is not aggressive.