Type of spider is widow spider?

Answer 1

"Widow Spiders" are venomous spiders of the Genus Latrodectus that have a rather bad reputation for eating their mate. However, this is not entirely fair, as not all species of Latrodectus do this. Perhaps the most commonly known widow spiders are Latrodectus mactans (Southern Black Widow), Latrodectus hesperus (Western Black Widow), and Latrodectus variolus (Northern Black Widow). It is the black widow which gave Latrodectus such a bad reputation. Among other commonly known Latrodecta are Latrodectus pallidus (White Steppe Spider), Latrodectus bishopi (Red Widow), Latrodectus tredecimgutattus (European Black Widow), Latrodectus cinctus (Black Button Spider), Latrodectus hasselti (Redback Spider), and Latrodectus katipo(Katipo Spider). There is one species that occurs worldwide, except Antarctica, Latrodectus geometricus. Latrodecta have such a negative association not only because of their notorious mating habit, but their bite. Latrodecta have an incredibly venomous bite, which causes a condition called Latrodectism. Latrodectism affects circulatory system, and can cause fatal heart attacks. It is also extremely painful. However, with modern technology, most Latrodecta bites do not result in fatalities, if treated expediently.

Widow spiders belong to a larger group called Theridiidae. All of these spider make a tangled sort of web, and all of them have almost spherical abdomens. So their habits are similar, but their sizes can be quite different. One other kind of spider in this group, the Steatoda ("false black widows"), are close enough relatives of the widow spiders that their venom has similar effects of humans. However, these spiders produce much less venom so their bites are not medically significant. They even look rather like black widows, but they do not have the red markings on the abdomen that help identify black widows.