Black Widow Spider

Shiny, black spider with globular abdomen, usually with two reddish, triangular shaped markings on the underside of the abdomen. These markings often are joined to form an hourglass shape. The red markings vary among individuals and may look merely like spots, or a row of red spots may occur on the top of the abdomen. Immature spiders have white, yellow, orange or red markings on the top of the abdomen. The egg sac is free (not attached to flat surfaces). It is tan with a tough papery texture and is spherical with a nipple on the tip.

They are not common indoors, but they are found in undisturbed sites such as basements and storage areas and prefer cluttered areas. Webs are built between stationary objects and walls. Outdoors, they prefer protected places near the ground, such as under stones, pieces of wood or brick piles or in rodent burrows and hollow tree stumps. Their favorite places are barns, sheds, meter boxes, brick veneer, barrels and woodpiles.

Widows tend to be clumsy out of their web and bites usually only occur if a hand is stuck in the web, or if a spider is inadvertently grabbed while cleaning areas like a garage or shed. Black widows come out at night and hunt in their cobweb-like webs. Since black widows don’t move easily, they wait for prey to come to them.