ID help, this was on my arm, almost biten

[jrh3]

Never seen a black widow with red on its back. Was sitting down and felt it on my are, looked and knocked it off. Took off up my leg, got it with a towel just in time. Is this male or female? And what type black widow if it is one

 

[MantidBro]

That is indeed a Black Widow. I'm not sure of the exact species but definitely something to be careful around!

 

[Ranitomeya]

Juvenile black widows will have patterns on their legs and abdomen and are not black in coloration.

Males tend to be brown or dark brown with similar patterns, but this one appears to be a subadult female based on the black coloration.

 

[jrh3]

Thx for the ID

 

[Mantis Man13]

You must have freaked when you saw that on you leg lol! I couldn't imagine what it would be like to have that experience. Glad you are alright.

 

[hibiscusmile]

to bad you could of pinned it.

 

[dmina]

I think I would have died anyway... especially after finding out it was a "Black Widow" ... I guess it was not your day to die!

 

[diablomantis]

Most likely a Katipo, very similar to the Black widow, but only found in New Zealand. If you live in America then it is most likely the false widow, guessing a male, not positive. Both the Katipo and the False Widow are both mildly venomous, I imagine the bite would be similar to a bee sting.

 

[MantidLord]

That is a black widow. It's a northern black widow, L. variolus. Not all widows are all black on the dorsal side.

Edit: to include link

http://bugguide.net/node/view/129497/bgpage

 

[pannaking22]

Definitely Latrodectus, but most likely a subadult female L. mactans if you found it in Alabama. You can find L. variolus down there, but they're pretty rare. Juvenile L. mactans can have a variety of patterns and colors on their dorsal side.

I promise you it isn't L. katipo and it isn't a species of Steatoda.

http://bugguide.net/node/view/673789/bgimage

For all your widow needs...https://sites.google.com/site/widowman10/widows