Western Black Widow (Latrodectus hesperus)

The Western Black Widow or Latrodectus hesperus is just one of the six different species of Black Widow Spiders. These spiders are often found in the western parts of the United States. The female Western Black Widow will have the classic all black body with the hourglass mark on their lower abdomen. The male of this species is about half the size of the of the female and is tan in color. These Black Widows will build strange looking webs compared to most spiders and their silk is much stronger than a lot of other spiders.
After mating some female Black Widows especially the Australia's Redback (Latrodectus hasseltii) will actually eat the male after mating! Lucky for the Western Black Widow this doesn't happen too offend in this species. You can check out the Western Black Widow in action in the video below... Just don't be an idiot and handle it like this guy...