Nearctic States & Provinces: AZ CO LA MD NH NC OK SC TX
Collection Locales Mapped by Year Collected:
The Nearctic Spider Database, http://www.canadianarachnology.org/data/spiders/7816
Latrodectus mactans (Fabricius, 1775)
southern black widow
FAMILY: THERIDIIDAE Sundevall, 1833
Genus: Latrodectus Walckenaer, 1805
Species: Latrodectus mactans (Fabricius, 1775)
Common Names
Family Common Name:
cobweb weavers
Genus Common Name:
widow spiders
Species Common Name:
southern black widow
Distribution
Global Distribution: probably North America only
Nearctic States & Provinces:
AZ CO LA MD NH NC OK SC TX
Collection Locales Mapped by Year Collected:
Natural History, Phenology & Image(s)
Feeding Guild:‡
space web builders
‡Feeding guild when noted defined by Uetz, G. W., J. Halaj, and A. B. Cady. 1999. Guild structure of spiders in major crops. Journal of Arachnology 27:270-280.
Recorded Habitats:
(not yet recorded or unknown)
Life & Natural History:
(not yet recorded or unknown)
Seasonality of Specimen Records:
Image(s) of Habitus:
Credit: Billings, Ronald F.
Credit: Schimming, Lynette
Details About Males
Description:
(not yet recorded or unknown)
Image of External Male Genitalia:
(image not yet available)
Details About Females
Description:
(not yet recorded or unknown)
Image of Epigynum:
(image not yet available)
Synonyms and Chresonyms†
| Aranea mactans Fabricius 1775 |
| Latrodectus mactans Fabricius 1775 |
| Aranea mactans Fabricius 1793 |
| Meta schuchii C. L. Koch 1836 |
| Latrodectus formidabilis Walckenaer 1837 |
| Latrodectus intersector Walckenaer 1837 |
| Latrodectus mactans Walckenaer 1837 |
| Latrodectus perfidus Walckenaer 1837 |
| Latrodectus schuchii C. L. Koch 1837 |
| Latrodectus mactans C. L. Koch 1841 |
| Tetragnatha zorilla Walckenaer 1842 |
| Latrodectus formidabilis Nicolet 1849 |
| Latrodectus thoracius Nicolet 1849 |
| Theridion lineatum Hentz 1850 |
| Theridion verecundum Hentz 1850 |
| Latrodectus malmignatus tropica Hasselt 1860 |
| Theridion carolinum Butler 1877 |
| Theridion lineamentum McCook 1879 |
| Latrodectus mactans Keyserling 1884 |
| Latrodectus mactans McCook 1889 |
| Lathrodectus mactans Tullgren 1901 |
| Latrodectus hahli Dahl 1902 |
| Latrodectus insularis Dahl 1902 |
| Latrodectus insularis lunulifer Dahl 1902 |
| Latrodectus luzonicus Dahl 1902 |
| Latrodectus mactans Emerton 1902 |
| Latrodectus mactans F. O. P.-Cambridge 1902 |
| Latrodectus sagittifer Dahl 1902 |
| Latrodectus mactans Carbonell 1923 |
| Latrodectus mactans Petrunkevitch 1925 |
| Latrodectus albomaculatus Franganillo 1930 |
| Latrodectus mactans Petrunkevitch 1930 |
| Latrodectus agoyangyang Plantilla & Mabalay 1935 |
| Latrodectus mactans Franganillo 1936 |
| Latrodectus mactans albomaculatus Franganillo 1936 |
| Latrodectus mactans mexicanus Gonzalez 1954 |
| Latrodectus mactans Carcavallo 1960 |
| Latrodectus mactans Wiehle 1960 |
| Latrodectus mactans Levi & Levi 1962 |
| Latrodectus mactans Gerschman & Schiapelli 1965 |
| Latrodectus mactans Levi 1967 |
| Latrodectus mactans Wiehle 1967 |
| Latrodectus mactans Zumpt 1968 |
| Latrodectus mactans Kaston 1970 |
| Latrodectus mactans Bücherl 1972 |
| Latrodectus mactans Canese 1972 |
| Latrodectus mactans Levi & Randolph 1975 |
| Latrodectus mactans Abalos 1980 |
| Latrodectus mactans Roth 1982 |
| Latrodectus mactans Roth 1985 |
| Latrodectus mactans Coddington 1990 |
| Latrodectus mactans Schmidt & Klaas 1991 |
| Latrodectus mactans Breene et al. 1993 |
| Latrodectus mactans Roth 1994 |
| Latrodectus mactans Barrion & Litsinger 1995 |
| Latrodectus mactans Kim 1999 |
| Latrodectus mactans Kim, Cho & Lee 2003 |
| Latrodectus mactans Agnarsson 2004 |
Taxonomic References†
Abalos, J. W. 1980. Las arañas del género Latrodectus en la Argentina. Obra Centen. Mus. La Plata 6: 29-51.
Agnarsson, I. 2004. Morphological phylogeny of cobweb spiders and their relatives (Araneae, Araneoidea, Theridiidae). Zool. J. Linnean Soc. 141: 447-626.
Barrion, A. T. & J. A. Litsinger. 1995. Riceland Spiders of South and Southeast Asia. CAB International, Wallingford, UK, xix + 700 pp.
Breene, R. G., D. A. Dean, M. Nyffeler & G. B. Edwards. 1993. Biology, Predation Ecology, and Significance of Spiders in Texas Cotton Ecosystems with a Key to Species. Texas Agriculture Experiment Station, College Station, 115 pp.
Bücherl, W. 1972. Invertebrados as Aranhas. São Paulo, Edart, 158 pp.
Butler, A., G. 1877. Myriopoda and Arachnida. In Günther, A., Account of the zoological collection made during the visit of H. M. S. "Peterel" to the Galapagos Islands. Proc. zool. Soc. Lond. 1877: 75-77.
Cambridge, F. O. P.-. 1902. Arachnida - Araneida and Opiliones. In Biologia Centrali-Americana, Zoology. London, 2: 313-424.
Cambridge, F. O. P.-. 1902. On the spiders of the genus Latrodectus, Walckenaer. Proc. zool. Soc. Lond. 1902(1): 247-261.
Canese, A. 1972. Latrodectus mactans: variaciones del dibujo y del color. Revta Parag. Microbiol. 7: 87-89.
Carbonell, J. 1923. Algunos datos sobre las arañas del género Latrodectus que se hallan en la Argentina. Physis 6: 350-353.
Carcavallo, R. U. 1960. Una nueva Latrodectus y consideraciones sobre las especies del género en la Republica Argentina (Arach. Theridiidae). Neotropica 5: 85-94.
Coddington, J. A. 1990. Ontogeny and homology in the male palpus of orb-weaving spiders and their relatives, with comments on phylogeny (Araneoclada: Araneoidea, Deinopoidea). Smithson. Contrib. Zool. 496: 1-52.
Dahl, F. 1902. Über algebrochene Copulationsorgane männlicher Spinnen im Körper der Weibchen. Sitz.-ber. Ges. naturf. Freu. Berlin 1902: 36-45.
Emerton, J. H. 1902. The common spiders of the United States. Boston, pp. 1-225.
Fabricius, J. C. 1793. Entomologiae systematica. Hafniae, 2: 407-428.
Fabricius, J. C. 1775. Systema entomologiae, sistens insectorum classes, ordines, genera, species, adiectis, synonymis, locis descriptionibus observationibus. Flensburg and Lipsiae, 832 pp. (Araneae, pp. 431-441).
Franganillo B., P. 1936. Arácnidos recogidos durante el verano de 1934 (Prosigue). Estudios de "Belen" 1936(57-58): 75-82.
Franganillo B., P. 1936. Los ar cnidos de Cuba hasta 1936. Cultural, La Habana, 183 pp.
Franganillo B., P. 1930. Arácnidos de Cuba: Mas arácnidos nuevos de la Isla de Cuba. Mem. Inst. nac. Invest. cien. 1: 47-99 [reprinted separately, pp. 1-55; only reprint seen and cited].
Gerschman de P., B. S. & R. D. Schiapelli. 1965. El género Latrodectus Walckenaer, 1805 (Araneae: Theridiidae) en la Argentina. Revta Soc. ent. argent. 27: 51-59.
Gonzalez T., L. 1954. Latrodectus mactans mexicanus subsp. nov. An. Inst. Biol. Univ. Méx. 24: 455-457.
Hasselt, A. W. M. van. 1860. Studien over de z. g. curaçaosche Orange-Spin, eene nog weinig bekende Latrodectus-soort. Tijdschr. Ent. (3) 16: 46-66.
Hentz, N. M. 1850. Descriptions and figures of the araneides of the United States. Boston J. nat. Hist. 6: 18-35, 271-295.
Kaston, B. J. 1970. Comparative biology of American black widow spiders. Trans. San Diego Soc. nat. Hist. 16: 33-82.
Keyserling, E. 1884. Die Spinnen Amerikas II. Theridiidae. Nürnberg, 1: 1-222.
Kim, J. P. 1999. Study of poisonous spiders from China. Korean Arachnol. 15(1): 19-26.
Kim, J. P., Y. J. Cho & Y. B. Lee. 2003. A list of venomous spiders of the world. Korean Arachnol. 19 75-88.
Koch, C. L. 1841. Die Arachniden. Nürnberg, Achter Band, pp. 41-131, Neunter Band, pp. 1-56.
Koch, C. L. 1837. Übersicht des Arachnidensystems. Nürnberg, Heft 1, pp. 1-39.
Koch, C. L. 1836. Die Arachniden. Nürnberg, Dritter Band, pp. 1-104.
Levi, H. W. 1967. Cosmopolitan and pantropical species of theridiid spiders (Araneae: Theridiidae). Pacif. Insects 9: 175-186.
Levi, H. W. 1959. The spider genus Latrodectus (Araneae, Theridiidae). Trans. Am. microsc. Soc. 78: 7-43.
Levi, H. W. & D. E. Randolph. 1975. A key and checklist of American spiders of the family Theridiidae north of Mexico (Araneae). J. Arachnol. 3: 31-51.
Levi, H. W. & L. R. Levi. 1962. The genera of the spider family Theridiidae. Bull. Mus. comp. Zool. Harv. 127: 1-71.
McCook, H. C. 1889. American spiders and their spinningwork. Philadelphia, 1: 1-373.
McCook, H. C. 1879. A monograph of the habits, architecture and structure of Pogonomyrmex barbatus. In The Natural History of the Agricultural Ant of Texas. Philadelphia, 311 pp. (Araneae, p. 203).
Nicolet, A. C. 1849. Aracnidos. In Gay, C. (ed.), Historia física y política de Chile. Zoología, 3: 319-543.
Petrunkevitch, A. 1930. The spiders of Porto Rico. Part two. Trans. Connect. Acad. Arts Sci. 30: 159-356.
Petrunkevitch, A. 1925. Arachnida from Panama. Trans. Connect. Acad. Arts Sci. 27: 51-248.
Plantilla, F. C. & E. Mabalay. 1935. Latrodectus agoyanyang, preliminary notes on the entomological, clinical and experimental studies. Mon. Bull. Philipp. Hlth Serv 15: 187-197.
Roth, V. D. 1994. Spider Genera of North America, with Keys to Families and Genera, and a Guide to Literature, third edition. Am. Arachnol. Soc., Gainesville, 203 pp.
Roth, V. D. 1985. Spider genera of North America. American Arachnological Society, Gainesville, Florida.
Roth, V. D. 1982. Handbook for spider identification. Published by the author, Portal, Arizona.
Schmidt, G. & P. Klaas. 1991. Eine neue Latrodectus-Spezies aus Sri Lanka (Araneida: Theridiidae). Arachnol. Anz. 14: 6-9.
Tullgren, A. 1901. On the spiders collected in Florida by Dr Einer Lönnberg 1892-93. Bih. Svenska Vet.-Akad. Handl. 27(4;1): 1-29.
Walckenaer, C. A. 1842. Histoire naturelle des Insects. Aptères. Paris, 2: 1-549.
Walckenaer, C. A. 1837. Histoire naturelle des insectes. Aptères. Paris, 1: 1-682.
Wiehle, H. 1967. Steckengebliebene Emboli in den Vulven von Spinnen (Arach., Araneae). Senckenberg. biol. 48: 197-202.
Wiehle, H. 1960. Der Embolus des männlichen Spinnentasters. Verhandl. Deutsch. zool. Gesells. Bonn/Rhein 1960: 457-480.
Zumpt, F. 1968. Latrodectism in South Africa. S. Afr. med. J. 42: 385-390.
†Nomenclature and taxonomic references from the World Spider Catalog accessible at http://research.amnh.org/entomology/spiders/catalog/THERIDIIDAE.html
Other Nearctic Members of Genus Latrodectus Walckenaer, 1805‡‡
L. bishopi Kaston, 1938 ...............USA
L. geometricus C. L. Koch, 1841 ...............Cosmopolitan
L. hesperus Chamberlin & Ivie, 1935 ...............North America, Israel
L. variolus Walckenaer, 1837 ...............USA, Canada
‡‡May also include species with Palearctic distribution