Welcome to the Latrodectus hesperus Home Page!


Photo by Christopher M. Burzell

Latrodectus hesperus is a spider that varies quite a bit physically depending upon gender. The females grow to be around 3.5 cm and, at maturity, have a jet-black body and legs with a trademark red-orange hourglass on the bottom of their abdomen.
The males of the species tend to have a lighter brown body with darker brown markings on the abdomen. They only grow to be around 1.25 cm, considerably smaller then the females (Animal Diversity Web 2001).

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Latrodectus means 'venomous spiders' and hesperus actually comes from the Greek word hesperos meaning 'Western' thus, Western Black Widow Spider.

Classification₪

Multiple Organisms Webpage