Please help me I live in northern NH and this spider was in a veggie platter that we bought at the local shaws
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Dec 5, 2019
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Help identify this spider
West Fork,
Anyone have an idea as to what kind of spider this is
Not good to see spiders in shipped in produce as they may be invasive. Theridiidae family? Almost looks like a widow of some kind.
I did consider the invasive aspect. It isn’t a Black Widow that is native to New Hampshire. If any were to get loose here they would find it difficult to find one of our two native Black Widow species to mate with. They allegedly live here, but I can’t find anyone who has seen one here. It’s too cold here for many non-native species. Being too cold also means there aren’t many insects around in Winter for them to eat. Insects that come into the state on imported wood is our biggest invasive species introduction threat. There is a ban… Read more »
Thanks for asking, That’s a Black Widow, maybe a Western Black Widow. California produce? I was just today thinking about going to Shaw’s to see if they have the Black Widow Platter in stock. Seriously! I want to find new-to-me spiders to observe. It has been a while since the last time there’s been a NH local news story about a Black Widow at Shaw’s. Not really vegetarian, is it? There’s good news that comes with the spiders. This is also what the Produce Manager might say to you…. There are more spiders in produce because organic produce is in… Read more »
It’s not a Western anyway, unless it’s a juvenile I guess. Westerns (females) are all black with a red hourglass underneath.
I have noticed your credentials and was wondering if you could help positively identify this kind of spider
Unfortunately I have racked up some hospital bills from the contact that I have had with this spider and I see that your from NH TangledWeb and I need a professional to put an eyeball on this spider and give a positive id on it if you don’t want to be that person I completely understand and if that’s the case I was wondering if you could point me in the right direction if everyone would help for that matter I’m at a loss I can be reached at weebthompson@gmail.com thanks for all your help
Yes, I live in Nashua. Itsy Bitsy is our site moderator. She has the most experience of us on this website in identifying spiders from photos. We can’t give a 100% certain identification of a particular species of Black Widow from a photo. That requires a microscope and the specimen. We are confident that it appears to be a Black Widow if all ingredients came from USA . There isn’t any species in America that looks quite like it. There are similar foreign spiders in the same genus. There are two species of Black Widow that are native to NH.… Read more »
This spider was found in broccoli from a platter that was put together at the local Shaw’s. Talking with Shaw’s most of the produce is imported from California and when it arrives at the store they separate, cut and put it out for sale. If it would help more in the identification of this spider I still have it But it has however pasted away
Likely Latrodectus hesperus (Western Black Widow) if the grapes originated in the US (from California for example).