Latrodectus (Theridiidae) Picture Thread

[buthus]

Found this boy as a small juv. Coming along nicely.

 

[desertrat]

How does one tell when a Latrodectus sp. has become an adult? I have several wc L. hesperus (best guess - in the CA high desert) but only one male - so how do I know when/which female to introduce him to?

 

[Splintercell]

adulthood

Well,

I suppose, laying an unfurtilised eggsac,
is "one" of the signs of adulthood.
I mean: When you havent mated them,
and the female lays an eggsac anyway,
than she is adult. (IMO)

This only happens sometimes,
not all "new-adult" females lay unfertilised eggsacs.
So this Tip isn't worth sooooo much, sorry.

Greetz, Tom.

 

[buthus]

How does one tell when a Latrodectus sp. has become an adult? I have several wc L. hesperus (best guess - in the CA high desert) but only one male - so how do I know when/which female to introduce him to?

For fem hesps, I use a combination of size and loss of dorsal markings to determine if she has gone through final molt ...though this can lead to surprises.
I have two local lines that I have started to breed. One is rich black and very large. These tend to loose 90 - 100% of their markings after the second to the last molt. Their last molt is generally a size boost. The other line is one that tends to retain some markings and richer colors after final molt. These are harder for me to tell ...but again size is the clue for me. Obviously, after final molt they become robust and ripe and they dont molt anymore ...thats really the best clue.
Male hesps can be true guess work because they tend to very greatly in final size. If you can get them to eat and become robust, then it can be easier to tell. The male I posted above...I guess he has one more molt. After his last molt he will stop eating and will loose body mass. Mature hesp males abdomons tend to shrink rapidly and square off ...loosing most of their female-like characteristics they hold before final molt. They will eat again after a long fast or after mating, but never seem to eat enough to fatten back up.

 

[Splintercell]

Subadult Latrodectus revivensis pic's

Hello@all,

Here are some pic's of my L. revivensis subadults.
The first is a male, all the others are females.

Greetz, Tom.

 

[buthus]

Tom, do these mature to solid black? Mine have.

 

[atrax_robustus!]

i wanna feed spider but my mum doesnt let me what will i do?

 

[Gigas]

Let it go?

 

[desertrat]

L. Hesperus (to the best of my knowledge)

I finally got around to taking some photos of my spiders. As far I know, they are all L. Hesperus, although I understand there may be some L. Mactans here in the Mojave desert. Enjoy!

 

[KUJordan]

Ahh, great hesperus shots! I especially like the hourglass on the fourth spider down in your post. Widows sure are cool, aren't they?

 

[pandinus]

interesting leg patterns on pic #6.

 

[Rizzolo]

L. revivensis photos

Splintercell, i like your L. revivensis shots. i noticed that the female looks alot like the males in body shape, except of the palpal emboli - fat little body. also, the females look short-legged. is that just an illusion from the photos? when they mature, do their legs get long like hesperus/mactans etc.?

 

[Rizzolo]

KU Jordan's variolus

Jordan, i am curious what happened with the variolus you posted in the pics on 11/12 - the one that looks like a hellfire widow. is she gravid? eggsacs? i am dying to hear what happens with the offspring.

good luck

 

[desertrat]

@Pandinus
I really like her coloration as well. She's a juvenile and about half the size of the others, but there's nothing to show scale from one picture to the next.

@KUJordan
The two with the incomplete/separated hourglasses is what prompted the "best of my knowledge" remark. If I recall correctly, it's more typical of Mactans then Hesperus that the hourglass be incomplete or separated.


I'm getting ready to build a "real" enclosure for my girls (based on designs in Buthus' thread :clap: ) I'll post more pics when that project is complete.


cheers!
Rob

 

[KUJordan]

I don't think that identification of variolus, hesperus, and/or mactans depends as much on the completeness of the hourglass as much of the "shape" of what is there. Variolus has two nice triangles, nearly always broken, and the more posterior triangle is slightly rounded. Hesperus has either a very sharp whole hourglass with little rounding, but it can be slightly separated in some cases. mactans, in my experience, is usually very sharp on the anterior portion of the hourglass, and very heavy and rounded on the posterior portion. I still think that analysis of the markings on the rest of the body/abdomen is the best way to make a positive ID. I'll make a thread someday and post a picture key of what I use to make ID's.

Rizzolo- as far as that sweet variolus goes, she is extremely fat and is refusing food. i watched her mate once and have put another male in with her, which she ate as well. it seems like it is taking way too long though. this is the same story with that light colored hesperus that i mated. we'll just keep our fingers crossed...but i do have another bunch of variolus coming up from juvies that are ever bit as colorful as that nice adult i showed you all.

take care. i hope you all have a great christmas! may you all get lots of new critters as gifts and post them here for all of us to see!

 

[Rizzolo]

a latrodectus key

KUJOrdan, i would love to see the beginning of that key to the us species (the black ones at least). especially, a discussion of the "other markings" would be useful. there are certainly a lot of pictures on this forum that blur the boundaries.

also, i would love to hear others observations of the behaviors of the different species (differences) and specifics of housing each species. i have noticed that, given enough space, the webs of the geometricus and bishopi widows are more like funnel webs, not strictly cobwebs like hesperus and mactans (variolus too as far as i can tell). i would be curious to see more discussion from others about their observations in this regard and how they accomodate that in the design of housing. i would love also to see pictures of them in their natural habitats. this might give some insight into how they weave their webs and how best to house them most naturally. Buthus seems to be onto something with little hide he has in his terrariums.

i would be fun to see more pictures of the other black non-us species (as well as all others), showing several angles. usually, when i see pictures, there are only shots of the dorsal side, not shots of dorsal, ventral, anterior and posterior, so you can get a good look at all the features.

i am impressed with the depth of experience the people on this forum have with widows. i find myself cutting and pasting little bits of information from various posts to accumulate as much information as i can. it is easy to accumulate more in depth information here than you are likely to find in most published material.

just dreaming! keep it up.

 

[desertrat]

Widow Identification

KUJordan,

Thanks for the inputs. I try to do my homework, but I also don't want to make id mistakes due to my inexperience. My bet is every widow I find here would be L. hesperus, but one never can tell. Especially in this town which has a fairly transient segment of the population, so you never know what kind of "hitchhikers" may come to town.

Here's a link to a Virginia Tech. website regarding identification of the U.S. Latro's. I don't vouch for the completeness nor accuracy, but at least it discusses all five species. It's not the site I've been trying to re-locate (which had drawings of Latro marking variations), but its a start.

My bet is Rizzolo is correct that there are folks on this (and other) boards that are at least as (and likely more) knowledgeable as other published entomologists.

Here's another link to widow identification.

The Venomlist also has some identification guidelines here. What I noted was that it says L. mactans has markings on the dorsal side above the spinnerets (as some of mine do). Maybe mine haven't matured yet or have vestigial juvenile markings.?

Regards.
Rob

 

[KUJordan]

Here's a Christmas L. menavodi!

 

[mackids]

Merry Christmas to ME!

My lovely girlfriend decided to build me a display shelf for all of my latrodecti this xmas! what a lady!

 

[Rizzolo]

what is that thing?

mackids, what is that thing on the bottom shelf, second from the right? a latrodectomizer?