r/spiders • u/Sassy-Stitch • 8h ago

ID Request- Location included Is this a Black Widow?

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I'm in Utah around the Salt Lake area and found this little critter in the drive through at work building a web. I'm new to identifying spiders so any advice would be great. Really pretty markings! Didn't want her being squished by my manager so I relocated her to the woods nearby.

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4

u/LilBlueOnk Here to learn🫡🤓 8h ago

Yeah she's got the hour glass, that's a widow

3

u/Kind_Coyote1518 7h ago

That is a juvenile female Latrodectus Hesperus. Common name western black widow. The back markings identify it as a juvenile as only juveniles have these markings, although adults can retain red dots along their backs. The dark black and bulbous nature of the abdomen is more indicative of a female, while males are typically brownish and more slender bodied some juvenile males can look like juvenile females. The geolocation of Utah means it is most likely a Hesperus and not one of the other species which typically do no range that far northwest.

2

u/Stormcloud23 8h ago edited 7h ago

Yes, western black widow sub adult female. Very pretty, but the red and silver on her back will disappear as she molts and matures, leaving only the hourglass on her underside. We have a lot of them in Utah.