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Comments & ID Thoughts
Is this a black widow?
- Submitted by:
- Submitted: Feb 25, 2018
- Photographed: Feb 25, 2018
- Spider: Steatoda borealis
- Location: Olney, Maryland, United States
- Spotted Indoors: Other
- Found in web?: Yes
- Attributes: Lateral
Steatoda borealis
Picture ID 6020
Additional Pictures
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Steatoda borealis
Family
Genus
Species
- Submitted
Jan 5, 2020 - Photographed
Dec 16, 2019 
Male
4 Comments
East Norriton, 
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Steatoda borealis Family
Genus
Species
- Submitted Apr 25, 2020
- Photographed Apr 25, 2020
- 2 Comments
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Steatoda borealis Family
Genus
Species
- Submitted Apr 22, 2020
- Photographed Apr 22, 2020
- 4 Comments
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Steatoda borealis Family
Genus
Species
- Submitted Apr 22, 2020
- Photographed Apr 22, 2020
- 1 Comments
Hi, welcome to Spider ID. 🙂 Your spider is a False Widow, Steatoda borealis.
https://bugguide.net/node/view/1177353
Thanks so much! What are the main things you look for to differentiate the two?
From a dorsal shot like this I see that the legs aren’t as robust, the abdomen has a slightly different shape to it and I can see a faint pattern on the back that is a characteristic of S. borealis. A widow would either have a different pattern or be all black above and of course for the ventral side I’d look for a red hourglass mark (or orange, or any red at all).