Sunday, August 7, 2011

South Texas Black Widow



Here are the best of the pictures of the black widow my wife & I found in my Mom's garage. This one was smaller than the ones I've seen in person in the past. This one might've been very close to the size of a quarter. Her legs are just about all spread out in the top image. (Enlarge these..)

And yes, as you'll see, this widow not only had the characteristic hourglass design on her ventral abdomen, but also a very similar-looking shape on her dorsal side. Is it a male? I don't think so, since we busted it wrapping up a little bug in a web. Male's are usually brownish, have orange or yellow markings, and their only function in life is to impregnate females. Supposedly they don't wrap up bugs, nor go on feeding binges to find bugs - they merely eat what they can quickly catch.

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