B lack widow spiders are notable and venomous spiders that make up most of the Latrodectus genus of spiders. These ...

"Contact with the black widow spider or any of its body parts is potentially hazardous," the doctors wrote in the report. "Anyone exposed to Latrodectus venom, body parts, or eggs should be observed ...

Latrodectus spiders prefer to hide and will only bite when they feel threatened. These arachnids remain inside their burrows and feed on prey such as grasshoppers, mosquitoes, and other insects.

Latrodectus spiders, like the black widow and its cousin the brown widow (pictured here), have hairy feet that tingle with spidey senses. Donald W. Hall, University of Florida. All of the ...

A female black widow spider (Latrodectus) hangs upside-down in her web, showing the red hourglass marking on her abdomen.(Image credit: Kimberly Hosey/Getty Images) In the genus Latrodectus, the ...

Black widow spiders (right) are commonly being displaced by the brown widow spiders (left), a fellow species in the same genus, Latrodectus. The Images are not shown to matching scale and thus do ...

Latrodectus spiders, commonly known as the true widows, are found on every continent except Antarctica. The venom of these spiders contains a neurotoxin known as alpha-latrotoxin.

Brown widow spiders are becoming more common in the southern U.S. Learn more about brown widow spiders, where they live, what to do if you get bit, how to get rid of them, and more.

The black widow (Latrodectus mactans) is particularly aggressive, accounting for more than 2,500 visits to U.S. poison control centers annually, and its venom is reportedly 15 times stronger than ...

Latrodectus spiders—like black widows, redback spiders, and katipo spiders—can dispense nasty, dangerously venomous bites to humans. There were already more than 30 of these species known ...

Reference: Poke but don’t pinch: risk assessment and venom metering in the western black widow spider, Latrodectus hesperus. David R. Nelsen, Wayne Kelln, William K. Hayes. Animal Behaviour ...