Immature Latrodectus spp.?

[MyNameHere]

Caught a widow...ID help, please

I live in TX, so I thought I'd poke around in my garage for a Southern Black Widow (L. mactans). I was lucky to find a Latrodectus spp., and I thought it was an L. geometricus after reading a couple of descriptions, but the markings don't match the pics here: http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showpost.php?p=292403&postcount=1

or here:
http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=4898&page=2&pp=15

Unfortunately I don't have a digicam, but she's an overall creamy tan w/a legspan of ~0.33". She has dark brown bands on her legs, and on her abdomen she has dark, splotchy marks that leave two creamy chevrons pointing towards her head. On the ventral surface of her abdomen she has darker, irregular markings where I would hope to see the red hourglass of an L. mactans. They aren't in an hourglass shape or formation...if anything they look like the orange marking in the pic of L. bishopi in the first link, but there are 2 and they are dark brown... help? What did I catch? :?

 

[MyNameHere]

I understand that it might be hard to ID from a description; picture ID's are often deemed unreliable enough, but would anyone care to take a stab at this?

Are the markings on immature widow spiders this different? Does it sound at all like a juvenile, or maybe some crazy color morph? Is there anything else I should look for, or any other pages I can visit that might help ID?

 

[mactans]

Well, it is really hard to say. There are numerous variations on the ventral and dorsal markings. And the legs on Juvenile L.hesperus, L.variolus, and L.mactans can be banded. L.geometricus comes in a wide array of colors such as pale yellows, grays, browns, and blacks. Also, the three Black Widow natives come in lighter colors such as reddish brown/brown/chocolate brown.

 

[MyNameHere]

Thank you! Would the lighter brown color morphs still have some kind of orange/red marking?

If I were able to somehow get a pic would that help or would it still be fairly difficult?

 

[mactans]

Yes, all North American Widow species have a ventral marking, not always a distinct hourglass though. A pic may help but can't promise anything.

 

[Kugellager]

If it is Latrodectus it should have some variation of the red hourglass on the ventral surface. Even if it is a juvenile.

It sounds like what you found is more like the common house spider (Achaearanea tepidariorum) of which information can be found here as well a links to images of the spider.

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=30717

Color patternation varies widely from the photos in the thread and links I gave. They are related to Latrodectus but are not know to be dangerous. Take a look ath the links I posted in that thread as well as the photos posted by pandinus and see what you think.

John
];')