#133 - APPLE ON WIDOWS

John Apple does love his true spiders. And not just the active hunters that people like me admire. By that, I mean that – for the most part – the araneomorphs that interest me aren't the ones who sit in webs and snare their prey. I like saltis – jumping spiders of the family Salticidae. I like wanderers – the dangerous Phoneutria and the less lethal Cupiennius. I like huntsmen – Heteropoda, Olios and their kin. I even like wolf spiders or any spider that doesn't use silk to trap. They say poison is a woman's weapon, and men kill with spear, sword, arrow, bullet, or just their bloody hands. I guess that's how I feel about spiders. I think snaring is less "courageous" than ambushing like a theraphosid. Our man Apple likes them all, even the common things you find in your cellar. He especially like widow spiders (Latrodectus) and has even named his beloved dog "Latro".

He recently commented on one of my blog entries, but I expect that few readers of this blog who don't comment ever see the comment section. So I have taken the liberty to re-write what he posted when I asked him to convince me that widows were interesting at all. He had mentioned other "comb-footed spiders" being interesting and I challenged him to make his case even for the more "glamorous" widows, which belong to the most recognizable genus (Latrodectus) of the therids, or members of the family Theridiidae (also known as tangle-web spiders, cobweb spiders or comb-footed spiders).

Here is John's comment as slightly edited by me:

Latrodectus geometricus will make a scaffold many feet away from the lair, which is something I noticed from some Florida specimens. I was looking for the builder of the scaffold only to find a seven foot strand leading to the female L. geometricus and her lair. This was a bit of a "where is the spider?" thing I had going on, and I returned that evening and found the spider. I teased her and watched her run all the way back to the lair. Also, unlike many other Latrodectus, they will just drop out of the web and hit the ground curled up like Parasteatoda species (another comb-footed or therid genus).

Latrodectus bishopi constructs a large web that is somewhat upside down, meaning that even though there is still a bit of a scaffold below they also catch the beetles feeding on palmetto flowers. Both slings and juveniles construct a very nice normal scaffold.

Latrodectus mactans (see photo below) and L. hesperus will kick a glob of sticky webbing at you to defend the lair. My presumption here is that this is a good shrew and mouse repellent.

L. hesperus "mexicanus" is now called the harlequin widow and will be elevated to full species status. This widow maintains juvenile coloration as adults and males are larger than those of L. hesperus. They are simply stunning spiders.

Latrodectus hasseltii, the Aussie redback, is small like our northern L. various (the southern populations of L. variolus are quite large).


John lectured on true spiders at my ArachnoGathering in Tinley Park, Illinois. If you haven't watched the video on my YouTube channel click here to view.