Widow

padkison

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I was crawling around on the forest floor collecting millipedes last night and found several of these. I left them where they were. Picture pulled from Bugguide.net

Widows?
 

SnakeManJohn

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I believe they are or relatives. I'm new to this whole spider deal but I think it may be a L.hesperus...it has the design down its back like I've seen before. I may be wrong, so don't rely on my input too much :D
 
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buthus

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Adult or sub-adult variolus ...or a subadult mactans. I'd put my $ on variolus.
 

KUJordan

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Steven's right. Definitely L. variolus- you can tell by the heart shapes of the dorsal markings. They are distinctive in L. variolus and point anteriorly. By far the most shy of the US black widows.
 

Bigfoot

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Steven's right. Definitely L. variolus- you can tell by the heart shapes of the dorsal markings. They are distinctive in L. variolus and point anteriorly. By far the most shy of the US black widows.
i would never say a definitly id to a pic of a random spider, there is erverytime something differnt made it a different species!! But it could still be a variolus or mactans with red
 

buthus

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Picture pulled from Bugguide.net
I may have misunderstood and ignored a major detail.
If that image is not of the actual spider that you saw, you are relying on memory. IDing a spider by tying a memory to an image you later find can be problematic.
Lets say this is the actual spider you saw...

Then hours later you search out and find the variolus image you posted above. Would you truely remember the details or would your brain just fill in the gaps?
I believe that when we really want to figure something out, memories will blur to "help" with the solution.
 

padkison

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I am pulling a picture off of Bugguide.net that "looked" like the spider I saw based on a pattern of multiple red areas in a line on the abdomen. So I guess if their are multiple widows that can be similar in my area, an ID with this picture is not going to work well. Spiders were of various sizes and perhaps juvenile.

I was surprised to see so many widows on the forest floor. I hadn't noticed them like this before while out after spiders and millipedes. Might have been a "hot" area for these guys.
 

buthus

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Just trying to make a point regarding our quick and blind ID conclusions ..as was Bigfoot.

But, nevermind. My money is still on variolus! :D
Did you catch clear sight of any of their hr glasses?
 

KUJordan

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i see. yeah, i missed the part about that not being the pic of your actual spiders. i guess then all i was saying is that picture IS a variolus.

why don't you go out and find some of them and take some pics of the real things? we'd be interested to see them. if they are variolus, it wouldn't be surprising to find them all over a certain part of the woods. some places around me are very "hot" for variolus and studies have been published of them even being as common as 100 spiders/acre!
 

padkison

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I'll bring the camera next time and get some shots.

why don't you go out and find some of them and take some pics of the real things? we'd be interested to see them. if they are variolus, it wouldn't be surprising to find them all over a certain part of the woods. some places around me are very "hot" for variolus and studies have been published of them even being as common as 100 spiders/acre!
 

8+)

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If you pulled the pic from bugguide.net, then why did you ask if it was a widow? :?
 

buthus

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If you pulled the pic from bugguide.net, then why did you ask if it was a widow? :?
Naw...I think its clear he knows they were widows but he lives in an area that has both mactans and variolus.




I'll bring the camera next time and get some shots.
That would be perfect ...but what would be awsome is if you can quickly document the immediate environment surrounding the hot spot, web structure and the materials its connected to and the stuff your looking for in the leaf matter ...pedes and whatnot. Also, if you see any carcases in or under webbing...take pics of that too.


Oh, yeah...sorry....
Pretty Please! :p
 

padkison

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Weather warmed and I got out to the Widow grounds for some pics. These were at webs with male/female pairs.

Pair 1





Habitat


Pair 2




Pair 2 Web area
 

KUJordan

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gorgeous! Latrodectus variolus in every sense of the species. Great pics and representation.
 

buthus

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uuugghh... Im confused, wasnt there more images here? ...like the other spiders and critters? Swear to gosh I saw them and responded to the post. ??

edit: Jeeese... found it in the field trips forum! :D Thought for sure I was loosing my mind ...again.
Anyway...quote myself :rolleyes:
padkison! Thank you dude! Those variolus pics tell me so much info ...I wish I could root around there myself!
All the pics are awsome. The beetle grub is crazy nice. :D
 

padkison

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Yeah,

We got a spare room. Come on out. :)

uuugghh... Im confused, wasnt there more images here? ...like the other spiders and critters? Swear to gosh I saw them and responded to the post. ??

edit: Jeeese... found it in the field trips forum! :D Thought for sure I was loosing my mind ...again.
Anyway...quote myself :rolleyes:
 

buthus

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Oh..meant to ask a few quickies.
How much real estate did each female have control over? Were there definate neutral zones between the webs of different females? Or was there any overlap? How high are those green plants sprouting from the leaf matter? And..one more.. where were the males found in relation to the females "den"?
 
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