The widow spiders: 34 species of small spiders with unusually potent venom. Females are usually shiny black with a red or orange hourglass on the underside. They hang upside down in tangled webs, and the name comes from females sometimes eating the male after mating.
Quick answers
What is it?Arachnid
Carnivore?Yes
Dangerous?Yes
Only females’ bites are dangerous, and they rarely cause death; the US recorded no black widow deaths from 1983 to 2012.
Domesticated?No
Awake when?Night
Hibernates?No
Kept as a pet?No
Do people eat it?No
At a glance
Found inNorth America, Worldwide
ColoursBlack, Red
SizeTiny
LengthBody 3–10 mm; females 25–38 mm including legs
Legs8
Covered inExoskeleton
Lives alone
Lives for1–3 years
Lays eggs
In the wild
- Where it lives
- Worldwide: North America, Europe, Australia (redback), New Zealand (katipō), southern Africa and South America.
- What it eats
- Insects caught in the web.
Did you know
Its venom is unusually potent, yet the US recorded no deaths from black widow bites between 1983 and 2012.
Much of the evidence for males being eaten comes from lab cages, where the males could not escape.
A trapped widow is more likely to play dead or flick silk than to bite.
Often confused with
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