Where Is The Hourglass On A Black Widow Spider. Pick-uppath Getty Images Widow spiders genus Latrodectus are found in North America Africa and Australia but the black widow with the hourglass markings Latrodectus mactans or southern black widow is only found in the southeastern United States from Ohio to Texas and in Hawaii. Typically the southern black widow spider is shiny black with a red hourglass shape on its underside.
The Brown Widow Spider does have an hourglass but it is typically an orange shade rather than the vivid red of a black widow. Typically the southern black widow spider is shiny black with a red hourglass shape on its underside. Female widow spiders are typically dark brown or a shiny black in colour when they are full grown usually exhibiting a red or orange hourglass on the ventral surface underside of the abdomen.
The Western black widow can make its web in dry deserts or high mountains in addition to the normal black widow spider habitats listed above.
As full adults in the last instar of development Black Widow females will usually be a deep glossy black above on the dorsal surface with a red or orangey hourglass shape below on the ventral surface. Brown recluse spiders prefer warm climates and are usually found in the central and southern united states. It is quite significant that they adopted only the female symbol of the red hourglass on the black widow spider. Females are larger than males and can measure 13 mm in body length.
