This is mostly correct. Hesperus do sometimes have a broken hourglass like variolus do. I’ve even photographed some.
Latrodectus (Theridiidae) Picture Thread
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RebelWolf
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Latrodectus Mactans. The southern black widow spider. She's not my pet and I'm not sure if this is ok to post it with this being a black widow picture thread, I think this is ok. Let me know and if it is not, I apologize. I came across this girl outside a hotel. I saw the web and exoskeleton and judging by the web and exoskeleton, I had a feeling it was a widow spider. So after some probing with a stick, I saw the spider with her red hourglass and my suspicions were confirmed. I left her be. Beautiful spider. One day I'm gonna own a black widow as a pet, whether it be latrodectus hesperus or latrodectus mactans
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This is a L. geometricus
RebelWolf
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I was able to get more clear pics of her. She appears to be more black and dark in color. If she is a brown widow, never seen them with such dark colors
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Clickbait
Arachnopeon
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Now I am not saying you’re wrong, but some L. Geos can be fairly dark. I own one, and when I first saw her I thought she was an L. Mactans—I only realized she wasn’t when I saw her striped legs.
RebelWolf
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I forgot to mention I was in North Carolina when I saw this widow spider. I'm not too sure if the brown widow's range includes North Carolina, I will have to look that up to be sure. I never heard of brown widow spiders being found in North Carolina. Maybe I should've coaxed her out of her hiding crevice to get a better look at her. So she's either a brown widow or southern black widow. I'm at a loss, haha!! If you say she's a brown widow then I have to agree and if everyone else says so then again, I have to agree
Clickbait
Arachnopeon
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See that's what is interesting! I live in North Carolina, and in the area between my dad's doctor office and my girlfriend's house (<1 mile) I have found upwards of 10 specimens. Most of the literature I've read only mentions their range extending to South Carolina, so I believe this to be a new phenomenon. When I first encountered what I now know to have been a brown widow, I mistook it for a black widow because I had never heard of the brown widow. But the one thing that I could not get over was the odd brownish color (it was fairly dark for an L. geo but too matte and brown to be an L. Mactans), and now that I've observed several L. Geo specimens in my region, I believe this one was in fact an L. Geo. I believe you can even see it in my post history, when I posted a photo of it consuming a wolf spider.
One other thing: if you ever see this specimen again and observe that it has spiky, Covid-shaped egg sacks, then it is absolutely an L. Geo. The Covid shape is diagnostic of the species (in fact my L. Geo just laid what I think is an unfertilized sack).
Ferrachi
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These photos are incredible !!
Black Widow
Black Widow Macro
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Sonic druid
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These are black widows I found on my porch. I think the smaller one is a brown widow. Not sure. If anyone knows let me know.
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RMELovesLife
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I found a sling in my home and I'm just getting into tarantualas and other invertabrates. So I caught it and placed it in a small spider enclosure to identify and possibly keep as a pet. I believe it's a widow and I'm trying to identify which species. It's small and brownish. Thats why I'm sure its a sling. I took a magnifying glass and found a light colored hourglass shape on the bottom of its abdomen. Upon looking at previous photos on this forum I haven't seen any with hourglasses on spiders this small. Any ideas which mine may be? Thanks in advance!