Help Identifying Spider found in my window?

[BlackbirdSong]

I found this little spider in my window and took a close up/macro shot through the jar I have him in. His body is roughly about the size of a grain of rice, he's been spinning webs and is quite fast.

 

[chanda]

I'd like to see other angles on him (or her) but that's a juvenile or possibly mature male Latrodectus of some sort - in Idaho, either a Western Black Widow (Latrodectus hesperus) or possibly a Brown Widow (Latrodectus geometricus).

http://bugguide.net/node/view/13097
http://bugguide.net/node/view/846054/bgimage
http://bugguide.net/node/view/469386/bgimage

 

[BlackbirdSong]

I suspected a black, or brown widow as well when I saw this view of him (or her!). That looks like the hourglass I always hear about, not sure if brown widows have those as well?

 

[chanda]

Yes, brown widows do have the hourglass markings as well. With brown widows, the bottom half of the hourglass is larger than the top half like this: http://bugguide.net/node/view/223848

From that ventral shot, I'd say your little friend looks like a Western Black Widow. The picture isn't terribly clear, but it looks like it has the big "boxing glove" pedipalps of a mature male.

http://bugguide.net/node/view/13099
http://bugguide.net/node/view/13097

 

[BlackbirdSong]

Thank you for your help chanda! I'm sorry for the blurry picture, but I wasn't about to let it out of the jar to get a clearer shot. I'm an arachnophobe trying to be brave here.

 

[The Snark]

Well if that's a male latro they are slightly more dangerous than fruit flies.

 

[Python]

Definitely a male Latrodectus. Looks like a geometricus I found a couple years ago in my backyard except mine was a female. Latrodectus make some great pets. Not shy, not aggressive but the best eaters I've ever seen. Males, not so much. He's living on borrowed time