More than Just Black
Most people probably believe they are referring to a specific spider species when they mention the black widow spider. But there are three separate species of black widow found alone in the United States (northern, southern, and western).
Additionally, even though we frequently refer to all Lactrodectus species as black widows, widow spiders aren't necessarily that color.
The Latrodectus genus contains 31 species of so-called widow spiders, five of which are black widows, according to the St. Louis Zoo. According to Smithsonian Magazine, "black widow" refers to three different species of North American spiders: Latrodectus Hesperus, Latrodectus various, and Latrodectus mactans in the south.
According to Sewall, black widow spiders are members of the Theridiidae family, also known as comb-footed spiders. Comb-footed spiders are so named because the final segment of their fourth set of legs is covered in a row of stiff, short hairs that resemble comb teeth. When the spider is wrapping its prey, this is employed to drape the silk around the victim. "
The Latrodectus genus contains both red and brown widows.
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Subkingdom: Bilateria
- Infrakingdom: Protostomia
- Superphylum: Ecdysozoa
- Phylum: Arthropoda
- Subphylum: Chelicerata
- Class: Arachnida
- Order: Araneae
- Family: Theridiidae
- Genus: Latrodectus
