What's a Black Widow Spider?
The genus Latrodectus contains numerous species of arachnids known as black widow spiders. These spiders are notable for the striking and distinctive look of their females and the reputed propensity to consume their partners. Despite being the most poisonous spiders in North America, people are rarely fatally bitten by them.
The world's temperate zones, including North America, southern Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, and a large portion of South America, are home to the Latrodectus spider. According to the St. Louis Zoo, black widows are primarily found in the South and West of the United States, and they live in cities and woodlands, deserts, and grasslands.
Black widow males and females seem significantly different from one another, as is true of many other kinds of spiders. According to Jo-Anne Nina Sewlal, an arachnologist at the University of the West Indies in Trinidad, "the females are the most recognizable, with shiny black bodies and a scarlet hourglass-shaped pattern on the underside of their spherical belly" (Sewlal spoke with Live Science in 2014, and passed away in 2020.) Hourglass markings in females can also be orange-yellow.
According to the Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of California, males are lighter in color and have smaller abdomens that may have red or pink patterns (UCDANR). Male black widows are normally roughly half as big as females, with females having a body length of up to 0.5 inches (13 millimeters).
