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Project Noah Nature School
Latrodectus hesperus
Your standard black widow, specifically the western species. Shiny black body, round abdomen, scarlet hourglass on the underside, and pointy legs. Can't forget that intimidating, deliberate gait.
Dry, weedy corner of backyard
Found this evil beauty under a thick wooden board. From the looks of that plump egg sac, it appears she's going to produce a healthy batch of spiderlings this year. A short while after I flipped the board upside down, she began dragging the egg sac to her web in an attempt to get it out of the sun. What a clever and caring mother. I snapped the photo as quick as I could and turned the board back over. Females must love it there, because earlier in the year I found another in the exact same spot, with an egg sac to boot. There were also a ton of pholcids, probably Physocyclus, and a couple Dysdera crocata, under there too. I wanted to grab a pic of the latter, but they said no way and ran off the board and into the weeds.
Spotted on Apr 14, 2015
Submitted on Apr 14, 2015
1 Comment
Welcome to Project Noah ZackSaavedra
Nice first spotting,congrats and thanks for sharing
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