---
title: "Southern Black Widow"
description: "Latrodectus mactans — Insects & spiders. Latrodectus mactans, known as southern black widow or simply black widow, and the shoe-button spider, is a venomous species of spider in the genus Latrodectus."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/southern-black-widow
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Southern Black Widow

> Latrodectus mactans — Insects & spiders. Latrodectus mactans, known as southern black widow or simply black widow, and the shoe-button spider, is a venomous species of spider in the genus Latrodectus.

- Scientific name: *Latrodectus mactans*
- Category: `insects` (Insects & spiders)
- Habitats: unknown
- iNaturalist observations: 14891
- Wikidata: [Q113297](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q113297)
- iNaturalist taxon: [47381](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/47381)

## Names

- en: Southern Black Widow
- de: Südliche Schwarze Witwe
- es: Viuda negra norteamericana
- fr: Veuve noire
- nl: Oostelijke zwarte weduwe
- pt: Viúva-negra
- pl: Czarna wdowa

## Countries with the most observations

US (10536), MX (1125), DO (23), CU (13), BS (11), BL (8), HT (4), JM (4), PR (4)

## Summary

Latrodectus mactans, known as southern black widow or simply black widow, and the shoe-button spider, is a venomous species of spider in the genus Latrodectus. The females are well known for their distinctive black and red coloring and for the fact that they will occasionally eat their mates after reproduction. The species is native to North America. The venom can cause pain and other symptoms, but is rarely fatal to healthy humans.

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latrodectus_mactans

## Photo

![Southern Black Widow](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/southern-black-widow/medium.jpg)

Photo: Carol Spence · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/136813874

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/southern-black-widow?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).