The adult female black widow spider has a shiny, jet-black, spherical abdomen with two connected red triangles on the underside that form a characteristic hourglass marking. Note, however, that the hourglass color may range from yellowish to various shades of orange or red. Adult females are about 1/2-inch long, not including the legs (about 1 1/2 inches when legs are spread). Adult males are harmless, about half the female’s size, with smaller bodies and longer legs. The male’s abdomen usually has red spots along the upper midline and white lines or bars radiating out to the sides. Newly hatched spiderlings are predominately white or yellowish-white, gradually acquiring more black and varying amounts of red and white with each molt. Juveniles of both sexes resemble the male and are harmless.
The black widow spider is a cobweb builder whose silk is very strong. The female constructs a web of crisscrossed silk threads with no recognizable pattern and with a dense area of silk, usually to one side, that serves as the spider’s daytime retreat. At night, the female hangs belly upward in the center of the web. She does not leave her hidden web voluntarily. The web typically is situated near the ground in a dark, sheltered site. Webs often are one foot in diameter.
