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Southern Black Widow Spider
Latrodectus mactans
26.084, -80.2402
Field Notes
Description:
The mature female is around 1.5 in (38 mm) long and 0.25 in (6.4 mm) in diameter. She is shiny and black in color, with a red marking in the shape of an hourglass on the ventral (under) side of her very rounded abdomen. There is much variation in female size, particularly in egg-carrying (gravid) females. The abdomen of a gravid female can be more than 0.5 in (~1.25 cm) in diameter. Many female widows also have an orange or red patch just above the spinnerets on the top of the abdomen.
The male is either black, or closer to the appearance of the juveniles in color, and is much smaller with a body of less than 1/4 inch (< 0.75 cm).
Juveniles have a distinctly different appearance to the adults, the abdomen is grayish to black with white stripes running across it and is spotted with yellow and orange.
Habitat:
The southern widow is primarily found in (and is indigenous to) the southeastern United States, ranging from Florida to New York, and west to Texas, Oklahoma, Arizona, and Nevada. The northern black widow (L. variolus) is found primarily in the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada, though its range overlaps with that of L. mactans. In Canada, black widows range in the southern parts of British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario.
Notes:
I found this spider while interning at the Invasive plant research laboratory at IFAS in Davie, Fl. This is a beautiful spider. Unfortunately since it is so dangerous we had to euthanaze it, using alcohol. We did manage to preserve, so its going to make an excellant display. The location is on private property!
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