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Comments & ID Thoughts
I just posted this, but used the incorrect picture. I guess you can only post one at a time?
Making sure this is actually a black widow. The red spots going down the back with red hourglass underneath. I thought black widows were all black with a single hour glass. Just wondering the specific genus species of this one?
- Submitted by:
- Submitted: Nov 24, 2023
- Photographed: Nov 24, 2023
- Spider: Latrodectus (Widow Spiders)
- Location: Middletown, Delaware, United States
- Spotted Outdoors: High foliage (includes trees and tree trunks)
- Found in web?: Yes
- Attributes:
Help identify this spider
Apr 21, 2020
Apr 21, 2020
Tuscon, 
Deffinately a female black widow.
That’s what figured. Be carful with your Christmas trees!
At least it makes for an interesting story about what you found under the Christmas tree. There’s an insect, probably prey, to the left of the spider. You can vacuum the tree and empty the vacuum outdoors. If you haven’t already returned the tree. 😉 It will be in your local news if they find out, like when people find families of raccoons and things like that in their trees. The genus is Latrodectus. We can’t go to species without the original state and an image of the line of red dots. I’ll add a link to an identification guide.
https://bugguide.net/node/view/1999 Latrodectus variolus and L. mactans are most commonly found in Delaware, the common names are Northern Black Widow and Southern Black Widow, respectively.
I wish I could have gotten a better picture. I would have stuck around for more observation but my wife and daughter were none too impressed and were ready to go at that point ! I love stuff like this and wanted to watch it. Good teaching moment for the kids if nothing else!
Black widows aren’t normally found in trees though, are they?
I’m like you and my family is like yours. I love finding totally unexpected stuff and seeing what it does. Only little boys enjoy my adventures. I thought the neighbor mom would hate me when her 5 year old spent time with me then announced to his parents, “I have worm poop all over my hands and a centipede stung me when I grabbed it!” Thankfully I live in an environmentally-minded neighborhood and the dad said, “Worm poop is great stuff!” The mom said, ” I’m so proud of my brave boy for handling a centipede for the first time… Read more »
I have found Black Widows in my Iris and up in shrubs in my yard. I also had one that lived all summer up in the corner of the moulding around the outside of my garage door.
Thanks! We don’t tend to get photos of them on plants, I thought that it wasn’t dark enough for them.