---
title: "Western Black Widow"
description: "Latrodectus hesperus — Insects & spiders. Latrodectus hesperus, the western black widow spider or western widow, is a venomous spider species found in western regions of North America."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/western-black-widow
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Western Black Widow

> Latrodectus hesperus — Insects & spiders. Latrodectus hesperus, the western black widow spider or western widow, is a venomous spider species found in western regions of North America.

- Scientific name: *Latrodectus hesperus*
- Category: `insects` (Insects & spiders)
- Habitats: unknown
- iNaturalist observations: 32886
- Wikidata: [Q113414](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q113414)
- iNaturalist taxon: [47382](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/47382)

## Names

- en: Western Black Widow
- de: Westliche Schwarze Witwe
- es: Viuda negra norteña
- fr: Veuve noire de l'Ouest
- nl: Westelijke zwarte weduwe

## Countries with the most observations

US (24838), MX (1865), CA (1838)

## Summary

Latrodectus hesperus, the western black widow spider or western widow, is a venomous spider species found in western regions of North America. The female's body is 14–16 mm (1/2 in) in length and is black, often with an hourglass-shaped red mark on the lower abdomen. This "hourglass" mark can be red, yellow, and on rare occasions, white. The male of the species is around half this length, and generally a beige color with lighter striping on the abdomen. The population was previously described as a subspecies of Latrodectus mactans, and it is closely related to the northern species Latrodectus variolus. The species…

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

## Photo

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

Photo: Angela Trnka · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/320950791

## Machine access

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