Latrodectus mactans, known as southern black widow or simply black widow, and the shoe-button spider, 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 species is native to North America. The venom can cause pain and other symptoms, but is rarely fatal to healthy humans.
Latrodectus is a broadly distributed genus of spiders with several species that are commonly known as the true widows. This group is composed of those often loosely called black widow spiders, brown widow spiders, and similar spiders. However, the diversity of species is much greater. A member of the family Theridiidae, this genus contains 34 species, which include several North American "black widows". Besides these, North America also has the red widow Latrodectus bishopi and the brown widow Latrodectus geometricus, which, in addition to North America, has a much wider geographic distribution. Elsewhere, others include the European black widow, the Australian redback spider and the closely related New Zealand katipō, several different species in Southern Africa that can be called button spiders, and the South American black-widow spiders. Species vary widely in size. In most cases, the females are dark-coloured and can be readily identified by reddish markings on the central underside (ventral) abdomen, which are often hourglass-shaped.
Theridiidae, also known as the tangle-web spiders, cobweb spiders and comb-footed spiders, is a large family of araneomorph spiders first described by Carl Jakob Sundevall in 1833. This diverse, globally distributed family includes over 3,000 species in 124 genera, and is the most common arthropod found in human dwellings throughout the world.
Parasteatoda tepidariorum, the common house spider or American house spider, is a spider species of the genus Parasteatoda with a cosmopolitan distribution. Common house spiders are synanthropic and live in and near human dwellings. Their prey mechanism is similar to that of the other cobweb spiders: the spider follows disturbances transmitted along the web to entangle and then paralyze its prey, which usually consists of household insects and other invertebrates.
The redback spider, also known as the Australian black widow, is a species of highly venomous spider believed to originate in South Australia or adjacent Western Australian deserts, but now found throughout Australia, Southeast Asia and New Zealand, with colonies elsewhere outside Australia. It is a member of the cosmopolitan genus Latrodectus, the widow spiders. The adult female is easily recognised by her spherical black body with a prominent red stripe on the upper side of her abdomen and an hourglass-shaped red/orange streak on the underside. Females usually have a body length of about 10 millimetres (0.4 in), while the male is much smaller, being only 3–4 mm (0.12–0.16 in) long.
The katipō is an endangered species of spider native to New Zealand. It is one of many species in the genus Latrodectus, such as the Australian redback, and the North American black widow. The species is venomous to humans, capable of delivering a potentially dangerous bite. It is a small to medium-sized spider, with the female having a round black or brown pea-sized body. Red katipō females found in the South Island and the lower half of the North Island, are always black, and their abdomen has a distinctive red stripe bordered in white. In black katipō females found in the upper half of the North Island, this stripe is absent, pale, yellow, or replaced with cream-coloured blotches. These two forms were previously thought to be separate species. The male is much smaller than the female and quite different in appearance: white with black stripes and red diamond-shaped markings. Katipō are mainly found living in sand dunes close to the seashore. They are found throughout most of coastal New Zealand except the far south and west. Katipō feed mainly on ground dwelling insects, caught in an irregular tangled web spun amongst dune plants or other debris.
Latrodectus geometricus, commonly known as the brown widow, brown button spider, grey widow, brown black widow, house button spider or geometric button spider, is one of the widow spiders in the genus Latrodectus. As such, it is a 'cousin' to the more infamous Latrodectus mactans. L. geometricus has black and white patterns on the sides of its abdomen as well as an orange-yellow colored hourglass shape marking. Their eggs are easily identified by points that project from all over the egg sacs. L. geometricus are found all over the world, but are believed to originate in Africa or South America. Their bites, though painful, are not considered to be dangerous.
Button spider is a common name used in Southern Africa to refer to local members of the spider genus, Latrodectus, the family Theridiidae. There are both black and brown button spiders in Southern Africa, that are known elsewhere as widow spiders. Seven Latrodectus species can be found in Southern Africa; six of them are native, one is possibly imported.
The spider genus Steatoda, in the family Theridiidae, includes about 120 recognized species, distributed around the world. One common name is cupboard spider, for many species build their webs in dark, sheltered, undisturbed places around the house or garden, in sheds and garages, under garden, in compost bins, and the like. Signs of the cupboard spider include small white spots of spider droppings, like small splashes of paint, on the floor underneath the web.
Steatoda grossa, commonly known as the cupboard spider, the dark comb-footed spider, the brown house spider, or the false widow or false black widow, is a common species of spider in the genus Steatoda.
The triangulate cobweb spider is a common spider in the genus Steatoda. It is well known for the triangle-shaped pattern on the dorsal side of its abdomen.
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 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. The male of the species is around half this length and generally a tan color with lighter striping on the abdomen. The population was previously described as a subspecies of Latrodectus mactans and it is closely related to the northern species Latrodectus variolus. The species, as with others of the genus, build irregular or "messy" webs: unlike the spiral webs or the tunnel-shaped webs of other spiders, the strands of a Latrodectus web have no apparent organization.
Steatoda nobilis is a spider in the genus Steatoda, known in the United Kingdom as the noble false widow, as it superficially resembles and is frequently mistaken for the black widow and other spiders in the genus Latrodectus. It is often referred to as thefalse widow, although "false widow" is a more general term applied to a wider group of species with this resemblance.[a] It is a moderately medically significant spider, with most bites resulting in symptoms similar to a bee or wasp sting. Some bites may cause more significant harm, partly due to pathogenic bacteria from the spiders.
Theridion grallator, also known as the Hawaiian happy-face spider, is a spider in the family Theridiidae that resides on the Hawaiian Islands. T. grallator gets its vernacular name of "Hawaiian happy-face spider" from the unique patterns superimposed on its abdomen, specifically those that resemble a human smiling face. T. grallator is particularly notable because of its wide range of polymorphisms that may be studied to allow a better understanding of evolutionary mechanisms. In addition to the variety of color polymorphisms present, T. grallator demonstrates the interesting quality of diet-induced color change, in which its appearance temporarily changes as it metabolizes various food items.
Steatoda capensis is a spider originating from South Africa. Its common names include the black cobweb spider, brown house spider, cupboard spider and due to its similarities to the katipō spider it is commonly known as the false katipō in New Zealand. Common throughout Southern Africa, it has been introduced into other countries and is now present in Australia and throughout New Zealand. It is a small spider, usually an all-over shiny black. It may have a small bright red, orange, or yellow patch near the tip of the abdomen along with a crescent shaped band near the front of the abdomen.
Parasteatoda is a genus of comb-footed spiders that was first described by Allan Frost Archer in 1946. The name is a combination of the Ancient Greek "para-" (παρά), meaning "near" or "next to", and the theridiid genus Steatoda. The Japanese name for this genus is O-himegumo zoku.
Rugathodes sexpunctatus is a minute species of spider in the family Theridiidae, the cobweb or tangle-web spiders. This family includes the medically important genus Latrodectus—the widow spiders. The species in the genus Rugathodes are too small to be dangerous to humans. Very little is known about most species in this genus.
Steatoda paykulliana is a species of false black widow spider in the tangle-web spiders family, native to the Mediterranean countries, Southern Europe and Western Asia. The species is named in honor of the Swedish naturalist Gustaf von Paykull (1757–1826).
Nesticus cellulanus, also known as the cavity spider or comb-footed cellar spider, is a species of scaffold web spider. It is found throughout Europe and Turkey, and has been introduced to North America.
