"Black Widow" Article

[darkness975]

Article claims to be about how to keep "dangerous black widows, the most venomous spider in North America" out of your home and boldly states it was "fact checked." Yet the photo looks like L. geometricus.

 

[Matts inverts]

It could be a tiny black widow or just any widow species. I don’t pay attention to those articles though. It seems that widows always find a way to live somehow so I don’t read or pay attention to any pest place or any person who claims to know what they are doing.

 

[darkness975]

Spelling errors and wrong species for the North American continent shown in the photo. I rest my case. Google keeps recommending these "expert" articles.

 

[Nicole C G]

Do most people have trouble with Black Widow spiders wandering around their house? I live in Texas where there are supposedly tons of them and yet I haven’t seen a single one my entire life.

 

[darkness975]

Do most people have trouble with Black Widow spiders wandering around their house? I live in Texas where there are supposedly tons of them and yet I haven’t seen a single one my entire life.

They are very reclusive and rarely seen unless you are regularly sifting through trash and wood piles in seldom visited basements, garages, or warehouses.

Anecdotal data on Latrodectus geometricus (brown widow that's displacing the native black widow) seems to indicate that they are more reliant on human structures while the native Latrodectus are not and more abundantly found in less travelled areas.

 

[The Snark]

Anecdotal data on Latrodectus geometricus (brown widow that's displacing the native black widow) seems to indicate that they are more reliant on human structures while the native Latrodectus are not and more abundantly found in less travelled areas.

Just a collection of incidents and conclusions.
The cosmopolitan effect has a lot to do with their dispersal. (Citing Rod Crawford). The tendency to hide and humans moving their hiding places around. Rayong here in Thailand, a shipping port, has reported a number of Hesperus, Geometricus and a few Hasselti as well as Reclusa.
Most freight from the US is shipped from the west coast ports, Hesperus native habitats, Geometricus, opportunity hitchhikers with prodigious reproduction capabilities, and Hasselli around households that have moved from Australia. One Reclusa found, which caused a persons death and was properly identified was in Denchai, a small metropolitan area in the middle of the country. A singular incident in an unlikely location.

While Latrodectus balloon, this doesn't assure their survival. They require safe inaccessible locations to establish themselves. It probably took eons for Hesperus to disperse and establish themselves throughout the Mojave desert area, a location with few suitable habitats and many roaming predators. Geometricus is taking the alternative evolutionary route of species survival through prodigious procreation. They appear to be less particular as to environments to establish themselves.

What I found of interest is the similarities between Hesperus and Hasselti. Identical preferences in hides, concentrated in metropolitan areas but spread throughout the northern territory which is quite similar to the Mojave desert hostility and predators.


PS I'm still lala land over one incident. Northern Calif. A woman requested a house call to have her sound system checked. Nice looking sound system. Going to move a speaker away from a wall I put my hand in those strong tell tale webs. Not quite a serious housekeeper, she lived in the middle of the rooms. All the furniture was connected to the walls with widow webs. Taking the amplifier back to the shop it contained at least five mature Hesperus.

 

[darkness975]

Just a collection of incidents and conclusions.
The cosmopolitan effect has a lot to do with their dispersal. (Citing Rod Crawford). The tendency to hide and humans moving their hiding places around. Rayong here in Thailand, a shipping port, has reported a number of Hesperus, Geometricus and a few Hasselti as well as Reclusa.
Most freight from the US is shipped from the west coast ports, Hesperus native habitats, Geometricus, opportunity hitchhikers with prodigious reproduction capabilities, and Hasselli around households that have moved from Australia. One Reclusa found, which caused a persons death and was properly identified was in Denchai, a small metropolitan area in the middle of the country. A singular incident in an unlikely location.

While Latrodectus balloon, this doesn't assure their survival. They require safe inaccessible locations to establish themselves. It probably took eons for Hesperus to disperse and establish themselves throughout the Mojave desert area, a location with few suitable habitats and many roaming predators. Geometricus is taking the alternative evolutionary route of species survival through prodigious procreation. They appear to be less particular as to environments to establish themselves.

What I found of interest is the similarities between Hesperus and Hasselti. Identical preferences in hides, concentrated in metropolitan areas but spread throughout the northern territory which is quite similar to the Mojave desert hostility and predators.

Hasselti seems to be more gregarious.

 

[The Snark]

Hasselti seems to be more gregarious.

Have you some additional info you can relate? All my encounters with Hasselti were singular incidents and I was unable to take the time to assess habits and habitats.

I would note around Darwin where there were a LOT, it was a 24/7 spider buffet. The air constantly thick with every imaginable flying insect. Out in the Kakadu at sundown I was breathing through my t-shirt to avoid ingesting flying bugs.