🕷️Latrodectus hesperus
Latrodectus hesperus, the western black widow spider or western widow, is a venomous spider species found in western regions of North America. The female's body is 14–16 mm in length and is black, often with an hourglass-shaped red mark on the lower abdomen. This "hourglass" mark can be red, yellow, and on rare occasions, white. The male of the species is around half this length, and generally a beige color with lighter striping on the abdomen. The population was previously described as a subspecies of Latrodectus mactans, and it is closely related to the northern species Latrodectus variolus. The species, as with others of the genus, build irregular or "messy" webs. Unlike the spiral webs or the tunnel-shaped webs of some other spiders, the strands of a Latrodectus' web have no obvious overall organization.
Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
The IUCN Red List has not assessed Latrodectus hesperus yet.
- Body mass
- not recorded
- Body length
- 0.01 m
- Shoulder height
- not recorded
- Top speed
- not recorded
- Bite force
- not recorded
- Maximum lifespan
- not recorded
Everything we know about the Latrodectus hesperus
Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.
Body length0.01 maverageOther figures ↓Hide ↑
Species-level value synthesised as the mean of: female.
By sex
- Female0.01 mWorld Spider Trait DatabasePekar et al. 2021, Database 2021:baab064Spider morphometric and foraging traits; Chamberlin & Ivie 1935b
- Female0.02 mWorld Spider Trait DatabasePekar et al. 2021, Database 2021:baab064Spider morphometric and foraging traits; Levy & Amitai 1983
- Female0.02 mWorld Spider Trait DatabasePekar et al. 2021, Database 2021:baab064Spider morphometric and foraging traits; Levy & Amitai 1983
- Female0.01 mWorld Spider Trait DatabasePekar et al. 2021, Database 2021:baab064Spider morphometric and foraging traits; Levy & Amitai 1983
average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.
Not recorded for Latrodectus hesperus yet: body mass, shoulder height, top speed, bite force, maximum lifespan.
Family tree
- kingdomAnimalia
- ›phylumArthropoda
- ›classArachnida
- ›orderAraneae
- ›familyTheridiidae
- ›genusLatrodectus
- ›speciesLatrodectus hesperus
- orderSpiders · Araneae
- superfamilyAraneoidea
- familyTheridiidae
- genusLatrodectus
All 8 branches ↓Fewer branches ↑
- kingdomMetazoa
- phylumArthropoda
- subphylumChelicerata
- orderSpiders · Araneae
- suborderAraneomorphae
- superfamilyAraneoidea
- familyTheridiidae
- genusLatrodectus
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