Black Widow Spider

Description:

I am not an entomologist, so while I can look up the genus, I am uncertain of the species--I went by geographical location and took an educated guess about L. hesperus

Habitat:

Latrodectus hesperus [?], the western black widow, western Canada, the Pacific Northwest of the United States, and Mexico.

Notes:

From Wikipedia: "Latrodectus is a genus of spider, in the family Theridiidae, which contains 32 recognized species. The common name widow spiders is sometimes applied to members of the genus due to a behaviour seen in some species in which the female eats the male after mating.[1] The black widow spider is perhaps the best-known member of the genus. Its bite is dangerous because of the neurotoxin latrotoxin, which causes the condition latrodectism, both named for the genus. The female black widow has unusually large venom glands and its bite is particularly harmful to humans; however, Latrodectus bites rarely kill humans if proper medical treatment is provided."