The southern black widow, commonly known as the black widow, is endemic to North America. They are closely connected to the western black widow and the northern black widow, resembling their cousins in specific ways.
Size: Females are mostly 0.31 – 0.51 inches (0.8 – 1.30 cm) long including their leg span while males measure around 0.12 – 0.23 inches (0.3 – 0.6 cm).
Color: Sexual dimorphism is prominently visible when it comes to coloration.
Full-grown female species have a black body, with an hourglass-shaped red marking on their abdomen’s underside. They may even have a red or orange patch over their spinnerets on the abdominal top. The male spiders are purple or even have the grayish-black color of the juveniles.
Other Characteristic Features: Both the sexes have round legs, while females are characterized by a rounded abdomen.
Female southern black widows create beige-colored egg sacs sizing 0.39-0.49 inches. The sacs release 200-220 eggs, each having a diameter of around 0.03 inches. The incubation period is generally a month after which the spiderlings emerge.
All spiderlings have a whitish complexion at first which gradually develops into a
The juveniles have a gray or white abdomen with orange and yellow spots and white stripes running across.
Southern black widows create messy three-dimensional webs in the crevices during the day, and hang upside down.
The females are considered more venomous than their male counterparts as they have larger and sharper mouthparts that can get right into the human skin. The female southern black widow’s venom is called alpha-latrotoxin, which causes several neuromotor problems. Though over two hundred bites have been annually recorded, there have been no instances of fatality in a healthy adult.
| Other Names | Shoe-button spider, black widow |
| Distribution | Southeastern province of the United States and southeastern Canada |
| Habitat | Rodent burrows, rock, and woodpiles |
| Lifespan | Females: 3 – 4 years Males: 3 – 4 months |
| Breeding Season | Spring and summer |
| Predators | Blue mud dauber, spider wasp, centipede, brown widow spiders |
| Diet | Woodlice, mice, millipedes, and centipedes |
| IUCN Conservation Status | Not listed |
Image Credits: Entnemdept.ifas.ufl.edu, Venombyte.com, Bugguide.net, Static.inaturalist.org, Spiderid.com, Farm9.staticflickr.com, Thoughtco.com, Upload.wikimedia.org, Cisr.ucr.edu
The southern black widow, commonly known as the black widow, is endemic to North America. They are closely connected to the western black widow and the northern black widow, resembling their cousins in specific ways.
Size: Females are mostly 0.31 – 0.51 inches (0.8 – 1.30 cm) long including their leg span while males measure around 0.12 – 0.23 inches (0.3 – 0.6 cm).
Color: Sexual dimorphism is prominently visible when it comes to coloration.
Full-grown female species have a black body, with an hourglass-shaped red marking on their abdomen’s underside. They may even have a red or orange patch over their spinnerets on the abdominal top. The male spiders are purple or even have the grayish-black color of the juveniles.
Other Characteristic Features: Both the sexes have round legs, while females are characterized by a rounded abdomen.
Female southern black widows create beige-colored egg sacs sizing 0.39-0.49 inches. The sacs release 200-220 eggs, each having a diameter of around 0.03 inches. The incubation period is generally a month after which the spiderlings emerge.
All spiderlings have a whitish complexion at first which gradually develops into a
The juveniles have a gray or white abdomen with orange and yellow spots and white stripes running across.
Southern black widows create messy three-dimensional webs in the crevices during the day, and hang upside down.
The females are considered more venomous than their male counterparts as they have larger and sharper mouthparts that can get right into the human skin. The female southern black widow’s venom is called alpha-latrotoxin, which causes several neuromotor problems. Though over two hundred bites have been annually recorded, there have been no instances of fatality in a healthy adult.
| Other Names | Shoe-button spider, black widow |
| Distribution | Southeastern province of the United States and southeastern Canada |
| Habitat | Rodent burrows, rock, and woodpiles |
| Lifespan | Females: 3 – 4 years Males: 3 – 4 months |
| Breeding Season | Spring and summer |
| Predators | Blue mud dauber, spider wasp, centipede, brown widow spiders |
| Diet | Woodlice, mice, millipedes, and centipedes |
| IUCN Conservation Status | Not listed |
Image Credits: Entnemdept.ifas.ufl.edu, Venombyte.com, Bugguide.net, Static.inaturalist.org, Spiderid.com, Farm9.staticflickr.com, Thoughtco.com, Upload.wikimedia.org, Cisr.ucr.edu
