What is a black widow spider? Description of the Black Widow Spider. Adults: The female Southern black widow, as described by Mote and Gray (1935), is a shiny black spider with a distinctive red hourglass on the abdomen. Most times, this takes place outside of your home, but sometimes, they can get inside. Most False Black Widow Spiders are a brownish colour with pale markings. Black Widow Spider Facts. Hourglass marking: Black widows are identified by red hourglass marking on the underside of their abdomens.This marking is bright red and signals danger to predators and attackers. False Black Widow Spiders are usually found in walls, fences and the bark of trees. Black Widow spiders usually eat small insects such as mosquitoes, grasshoppers, and beetles. Black Widow Spiders Facts, Identification & Control Latin Name. Black widow spider habitat inside and outside the home As with most spiders, black widows go where the food and favorable conditions are. In Michigan, they appear to be more common in the western Lower Peninsula. Habitat of Common House Spiders Where Do Spiders Live? Originally a native of southern Europe as far east as Georgia. The black widow is prey for birds and other spiders. Habitat of the Black Widow Spider These spiders build their “tangled” webs that look like white cotton puffs in areas where other insects, their prey, are usually seen. As the common name indicates, the spider superficially resembles and is frequently confused for the black widow and other spiders in the genus Latrodectus, which can have medically significant venom. Geographic Range. Symptoms of a black widow spider bite include fever, increased blood pressure, sweating and nausea. While the black widow’s poison is rarely fatal to humans, it … Black widow spiders ( Latrodectus mactans and Latrodectus hesperus) are found throughout the United States, Mexico, and southern Canada. Appearance What do they look like? Habitat of the Black Widow Spider However, digestive juices of the spider are injected into the insect prey, helping to make more of the prey item edible to the spider. These 10 fascinating facts about black widow spiders will teach you how to identify them, how they behave, and how to minimize your risk of being bitten. While individual species vary in appearance, widow spiders are typically black or dark in color, with a red hourglass shape of some type on the abdomen. Each species is slightly different in appearance. Latrodectus mactans, known as southern black widow or simply black widow, and the shoe-button spider, [citation needed] is a venomous species of spider in the genus Latrodectus.The females are well known for their distinctive black and red coloring and for the fact that they will occasionally eat their mate after reproduction. Black Widow Spider Facts. Black widow venom is neurotoxic. According to various studies male widow spider seek out well-fed virgins for mating and think fatter female will result more and healthier offsprings. The western black widow or Latrodectus Hesperus is found in western Texas, Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, the Pacific coast states and as far north as south western Canada. These areas may be inside or outside and are usually dark and out of the way places like storage areas that are not used often or on woodpiles or under a deck. A female black widow is much more likely to deliver more venom than a male spider. Within the United States, Latrodectus mactans ranges as far north as Massachusetts and New Hampshire, as far south as Florida, and as far west as California, Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. Widow spiders aren't always black When most people talk about the black widow spider, they likely think they're referring to a particular spider … Black Widow spiders prefer to nest near the ground, in dark, undisturbed areas. While male black widow spiders rarely bite, females may bite in defense, especially after laying eggs. This species largely displaces the southern black widow in the western half of the state. In fact, the male black widow is reclusive and hardly ever seen by humans. Steatoda nobilis is a spider in the genus Steatoda, known in the United Kingdom as the noble false widow and often referred to as the false widow. Low shrubs also are common sites for black widow spiders to occur. Nest sites are often near holes produced by small animals, or around construction openings and wood piles. Black Widow Spider Bites . Male black widow spiders try best to avoid getting eaten after mating – Male Latrodectus try best to not become post coitol snack. Most people don’t like the idea of living alongside spiders, but the only place in the world where you won’t find any eight-legged neighbors is Antarctica. A female black widow may occasionally cannibalize males of the species after mating.