Latrodectus hesperus

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Latrodectus hesperus
Latrodectus hesperus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Class: Arachnida Order: Araneae Family: Theridiidae Genus: Latrodectus Species: L. hesperus
Binomial name
Latrodectus hesperus Chamberlin & Ivie, 1935[1]

Latrodectus hesperus, the Western black widow spider or Western widow, is a species of venomous spider found western regions of the United States of America. The female's body is 14–16 millimetres in length, the male is around half this size, and is black; often with an hourglass shaped red mark on the lower abdomen. The population was previously described as a subspecies of Latrodectus mactans and it is closely related to the northern species Latrodectus variolus.

[edit] References

Male Western Black Widow - This image shows the enlarged palpal organs (large dark disks) at the tip of the pedipalps and the spider's eight eyes when the image is expanded.

1. ^ Chamberlin, R. V. & W. Ivie. 1935. The black widow spider and its varieties in the United States. Bull. Univ. Utah 25(8): 1-29. [15, f. 1, 4, 6-14, 21, 23-33]

• Minus, A. 2001. "Latrodectus hesperus" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed March 08, 2009
• Platnick, N. I. 2008. Theridiidae The World Spider Catalog, version 9.0. American Museum of Natural History.