Big moth and black widow
August 14, 2009
My son and I had a Discovery Channel moment leaving the post office yesterday. This moth was alive, and the spider was working very hard to wrap it up. It would climb up, drop a line down, throw a couple of legs over the moth, go over to the other wing, and repeat. The moth was fluttering but losing the battle.
We couldn’t believe this was right in the middle of the sidewalk (yes, there was a brick column in the *middle* of the sidewalk) at the entrance to a busy post office in the middle of the day!
I was going to take video but could only manage a quick cell phone photo before a well-meaning man came up and stomped the spider.
I think this is a real black widow, but I’m having trouble positively identifying the moth. We see them all the time here in Georgia – as the summer progresses, the moths get bigger.
Can you help?
Patty and Gabriel
Powder Springs, Georgia
Black Widow captures Regal Moth
Hi Patty and Gabriel,
We are sorry to hear that this shy and retiring, though poisonous Black Widow was stomped before getting to enjoy its gargantuan meal. The moth is a very bedraggled Regal Moth or Royal Walnut Moth. Its appearance indicates that it was already at the end of its short adult life. Regal Moths do not feed as adults, and only fly long enough to mate and lay eggs, and possibly, like this specimen, provide a nutritious meal to a lucky predator.
Orb Weaver with Skink Pt2
July 24, 2009
I sent two images earlier today and got one more of the same unknown orb weaver with her skink. By now he’s collapsing on himself from her nonstop feast. As my son said, “Cool. Spiders are like vampires!”
Resa in Atlanta
Atlanta, GA
Common House Spider eats Skink
Uknown Spider Feasting on Lizard
July 24, 2009
Saw this unknown spider had caught a baby skink it its web last night. I tried to get a decent night shot as the spider was biting the skink’s tail. The poor little lizard was twisitng fruitlessly. This morning the spider had turned the now dead skink and was working on it’s face. My kids enjoyed seeing the circle of life in action. I hope you enjoy the shots as well.
Resa in Atlanta
Atlanta, GA
Common House Spider eats Skink
Hi Resa,
We are thrilled to be able to post your awesome documentation, though we have a certain fondness for lizards. We do really hate those television commercials with the animated gecko though. Your spider is not an Orbweaver, but rather a Cobweb Spider. We believe it is the highly variable Common House Spider, Parasteatoda tepidariorum, based on images posted to BugGuide. Spiders are able to incapacitate much larger prey when the prey becomes entangled in the web. We have photos in our archive of a Golden Orb Weaver feeding on a Hummingbird and we have linked to an image of a Golden Silk Spider eating a Finch.
Common House Spider eats Skink
Great Site for Science Students
Wed, Jul 8, 2009 at 4:43 PM
Hi Bugman,
I’m a sixth grade science teacher and I wanted to say how helpful your site is when teaching my students about helpful and harmful insects, arachnids, and other creatures. Students love the pictures and they often have good discussions about the bugs I show them. Your site is useful in helping students to identify before they kill bugs. Thanks for providing a great site. It’s great to show my students great pictures. You are appreciated!
C.G
Science Teacher
Florida
P.S.
I have enclosed a photo of a brown widow that I necessarily had to carnage on my front porch. It had nested under a chair on my front porch.
Brown Widow
Dear C.G,
Thank you so much for your kind letter. It is with trepidation that we are NOT tagging your letter as Unnecessary Carnage, and we feel many of our readership will disagree. Your justifiably dispatched photo of a Brown Widow doused with insecticide nicely shows the typical orange coloration of the hourglass and the striped legs. According to BugGuide the Brown Widow has a distribution: “World wide in the tropical zone. It was introduced in Florida and has since been observed moving north through Georgia, and into South Carolina; it has also been officially recorded in California, Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas. Habitat Found around buildings in tropical climates. (1)However, it is an introduced species and is the most human-adapted of the species occurring in the South Eastern US. Its webs may occur anywhere there is sufficient space to make one. It may be extremely abundant on houses and other man-made structures (e.g., barns, fences, guard rails, bridges). It reproduces frequently and disperses rapidly, making it nearly impossible to control.” Since it is an introduced species, we will be tagging it as an Invasive Exotic.
Dear Bug Man,
We found this on the front door of our home in Byron, Georgia. Is it a Black Widow and is it poisonous? Thank you,
Denise West
Hi Denise
Despite originating in Georgia, this looks like a Male Northern Widow, Latrodectus variolus. There is a wonderful image that matches yours on BugGuide. From what we understand, only the female Black Widow has a dangerous bite.
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Posted 05 May 2008
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here I go again
Thank you for the help with the beetle I.D. I asked for earlier. Now I have another. While digging around in the backyard (Fort Gordon, Georgia) I came across this beautiful guy. Any ideas?
Stefan
Hi Stefan,
This diminutive beauty is one of the Widow Spiders in the genus Latrodectus. Based on the enlarged pedipalps, it is a male. Immature females and males often have similar coloration, but the pedipalps easily distinguish the males. According to BugGuide, the male spider is harmless, but it doesn’t indicate if they bite, just that they are harmless.
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Posted 16 March 2008
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Blackwidow Love
Thought you might enjoy. This gal hung out on the window for months and then this little dude showed up – I though she would eat him right away but after 2 weeks I looked him up on the internet. He is her male counterpart, funny I thought he would look like her. Anyway they finally got to business many many times. I took tons of shots of them and then, a day latter, he was lunch.
Robin
Hi Robin,
Thanks for sending your awesome documentation of the mating of a Black Widow. Black Widows are sexually dimorphic, meaning the sexes do not look alike.
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Posted 15 December 2007
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Tagged: bug love
Black widow??? Not sure…
Hey Bugman…
I was diligently cleaning off a table on the patio when I came across what looks to be a black widow – but I am not certain because of the color and markings on the back. I saw the "hour glass" shape while it was pretending to be dead, but the spots when it flipped back over. I have come across this type of spider previously in another part of So. GA. Are you able to identify? Thanks!
Amy
Hi Amy,
This is the not quite as famous first cousin of the Black Widow, known as the Brown Widow, Latrodectus geometricus. BugGuide notes: “The brown widow is highly variable in color. It may be almost white to almost black. Typically, it is a light to medium brown, with an orange-to-yellow hourglass marking on the underside of the abdomen; the coloration of the hourglass often is a good indication of this species. The leg segments are banded, with one half of each segment lighter in color than the other half. The back often has a row of white spots (rarely orange or light blue), and there are a few white stripes on each side. Darker individuals lack these markings and are difficult to distinguish from black widows. ” This is an introduced species and according to BugGuide, it is found: “World wide in the tropical zone. It was introduced in Florida and has since been observed moving north through Georgia, and into South Carolina; it has also been officially recorded in California, Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas. ” Your photo also documents this behavior noted on BugGuide: “Brown widow spiders usually curl up into a ball, and drop to the ground as a primary defense. It is highly recommended that people leave this spider alone; observe, but don’t touch. “
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Posted 14 May 2007
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Black Widow?
WTB,
I have had this big spider living outside of my front door for over a week and then tonight I saw the red hourglass marking and thought it may be a black widow, but as seen in the picture it is not completely black. Is this still as dangerous as I think? Thanks,
Chris
Hi Chris,
Black Widows are often not black until they attain adulthood. This Black Widow is immature or a male spider.
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Posted 29 April 2007
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A rare treat, Western black widow male, female, and eggs in one photo!
Adult female, eggs and male – Latrodectus hesperus – Male Female El Mirage AZ, Maricopa County, Arizona, USA September 6, 2006 An adult female with egg sacks, and a closeby male. I could not believe she was staying put, maybe because she was guarding her eggs, she was quite alarmed at me. This is one of 4 adult females in my yard that I have found. Most of the time they run and hide when I approach. This was a treat!
Candy Cox
Hi Candy,
Thanks for sharing this wonderful domestic moment with our readership, many of whom appreciate family values. We are also thrilled to find there are others out there without widow phobia.
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Posted 09 September 2006
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Tagged: bug love
widow egg sac
Hi,
I wrote a while back and asked about keeping a young black widow I found in a box of supermarket firewood. I have had her now for several months, and have been keeping her in a container that has six 2-3mm holes for air. She’s quite happy – I feed her all sorts of other bugs and sometimes pet store crickets. This morning I found her patting the last layers onto an egg sac – YIKES! How did this happen? Was it possible she had bred already, even when she was a wee cm long (including legs!)? Or has she figured out how to bribe the cat to unscrew the lid to her bottle and goes out on the town at night? Hussy! In any case, what do I do now? Take it all out to the woods and let her go? I’d hate to have them running around the neighborhood – lots of little kids. here are a few photos of the little minx.
Thanks,
Syndi Burton
San Francisco
Hi Syndi,
First, we love your colorful letter. Minx is such an underused, descriptive word. We believe it is possible that your Elvira was fertilized prior to becoming your pet. She wouldn’t have begun to swell with eggs until she was well nourished, and we believe she probably had a more regular diet with you than she would have gotten in the wild. It is also possible that the eggs are unfertilized and non-viable. To be safe, to the woods with Elvira might be the kindest solution to the riddle. Eric Eaton wrote in to add this: “Everything else looks in great shape:-) You are right about the female widow, by the way. Female spiders (and most insects, too) can store sperm from one mating and it lasts them a lifetime. Further, female spiders (and moths, etc) will lay eggs regardless of their viability, especially toward the end of the female’s lifespan.”
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Posted 30 March 2006
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Juvenile Western Black Widow?
From the information I was able to find on the web, it looks like I may have found a Western Black Widow (juvenile) is it possible to make that determination from the attached photos? Hope they are clear enough.
Scot
Hi Scot,
This is a male Western Black Widow. The photos are wonderful.
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Posted 27 January 2006
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Black Widow?
Hello!
Just wondering if you could confirm for me if this spider is in fact a black widow? It was found in Victoria BC, under a rock. As you can tell from the second photo, it was found with a messy web made of a really strong web material. It didn’t have an hourglass on the abdomen, and only had one orange mark, not two as the northern black widow is reported to have.
Hi Vanessa and Colin,
There is often a degree of individual variation when it comes to coloration and markings. This is a Widow, and Eric Eaton informs us it is a Western Widow. Thanks for sending in such marvelous photos.
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Posted 08 January 2006
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