The red hourglass
The mark is on her underside. Because she hangs upside down in her web, it is the first thing you see. The drawing here shows it from above so that you can recognise her.
An American yard · Spiders and scorpions
Southern black widow
Latrodectus mactans
A shiny, jet-black spider with a round abdomen, and a red hourglass mark underneath.
- Size
- Female body about 1 to 1.3cm
- Look for it
- April to October
- Where
- Woodpiles, sheds and dry, dark corners across the southern and eastern United States
Creeps after you on thin black legs. Move your pointer and see.
When to look
Black widow
Good to know
Six things about the black widow
Strong venom, small dose
Her venom is powerful, but she injects very little. Bites are painful and seldom dangerous, and there is a treatment.
A name she hardly deserves
She is said to eat her mate. In the wild that seems to be rare.
Silk like steel
Her web is a messy tangle of very strong threads. It crackles if you pull it.
She hides
She keeps to her web and drops out of sight if disturbed. People are bitten when they press against her by accident.
The male is harmless
He is half her size, brown and striped, and does not bite people.
The real thing
Photos of the black widow
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Photos are from Wikimedia Commons, used under the free licences shown. They have been resized, and cropped where they appear in link previews.
How to spot one
Look, without reaching in, at the back of a woodpile or under an outdoor step. The untidy web low to the ground is the clue.
How to help
Wear gloves when moving logs or boxes that have stood for a while. She eats cockroaches, crickets and beetles.