A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
Project Noah Nature School
Latrodectus mactans
Black spider, red hourglass markings. Abdomen not as large as I've seen in pictures of black widows though.
Spotted next to my kid's swing set.
I'm no expert but I would guess this to be a young L. mactans. You live in an area with overlap between the northern and southern, and I'm going by the BugGuide info that says the 2 red triangles usually touch to form the hourglass in the southern. As for the abdomen being smaller than what you've seen in photos, that's just because it's young and skinny. They plump up as they grow.
Spotted on May 24, 2013
Submitted on May 25, 2013
+2
