Western black widow
Latrodectus hesperus Chamberlin & Ivie, 1935
Status not recordedspiders
The western black widow (Latrodectus hesperus) is a species in the family Theridiidae, order Araneae. Recorded adults reach 1.31 cm in length.
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Quick facts about the western black widow
- Weight
- Not recorded
- Length
- 1.31 cm
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Young per litter or clutch
- Not recorded
- Active
- At night (nocturnal)
- Conservation status
- Not recorded
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
How big is the western black widow?
Where does the western black widow live?
Not recorded
Is the western black widow endangered?
No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.
How is the western black widow classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumArthropoda
- classArachnida
- orderAraneae
- familyTheridiidae
- genusLatrodectus
- SpeciesLatrodectus hesperus Chamberlin & Ivie, 1935
Synonyms Latrodectus mactans hesperus, Latrodectus mactans texanus
Other names and names in other languages (13)
- Western black widow spiderEnglish
- snovačka kalifornskáCzech
- Vestamerikansk sort enkeDanish
- Westliche Schwarze WitweGerman
- Viuda negra norteñaSpanish
- Veuve noire de l'OuestFrench
- ツヤクロゴケグモJapanese
- Zwarte weduweDutch
- Viúva-NegraPortuguese
- wereecheyxgf
- chukui jubajeyaq
- Westelijke zwarte weduweDutch
- Viúva-negra-ocidentalPortuguese
Relatives of the western black widow
Other species in the same genus Latrodectus.

Black widow spider
Latrodectus mactans

Steppe spider
Latrodectus tredecimguttatus

Redback spider
Latrodectus hasselti
Brown widow
Latrodectus geometricus
Katipo spider
Latrodectus katipo
Red widow
Latrodectus bishopi
CompareWestern black widow vs Black widow spiderWestern black widow vs Steppe spiderWestern black widow vs Redback spiderWestern black widow vs Brown widow
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the western black widow?
An adult western black widow measures 1.31 cm long, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
What kind of animal is the western black widow?
The western black widow (Latrodectus hesperus) belongs to the family Theridiidae in the order Araneae.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
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Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits · CC BY 4.0 · v1
Oliveira, B.F., São-Pedro, V.A., Santos-Barrera, G., Penone, C. & Costa, G.C. (2017) AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits. Scientific Data 4: 170123. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.123. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.4644424.v5 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - LepTraits 1.0: a globally comprehensive dataset of butterfly traits · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Shirey, V., Larsen, E., Doherty, A. et al. (2022) LepTraits 1.0: a globally comprehensive dataset of butterfly traits. Scientific Data 9: 382. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01473-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.19874602.v1 - Northwestern European arthropod life histories and ecological traits (raw datasets) · CC BY 4.0 · 2024-12-17
Logghe, G., Batsleer, F., Maes, D. et al. (2025) An in-depth dataset of northwestern European arthropod life histories and ecological traits. Biodiversity Data Journal 13: e146785. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.13.e146785. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13379714 - ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles · CC BY 4.0 · v1-2
Oskyrko, O., Mi, C., Meiri, S. et al. (2024) ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data 11: 243. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-03079-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24572683.v4 - Sharkipedia: a curated open access database of shark and ray life history traits · CC BY 4.0 · 1.0-2022-06-17
Mull, C.G., Pacoureau, N., Pardo, S.A. et al. (2022) Sharkipedia: a curated open access database of shark and ray life history traits and abundance time-series. Scientific Data 9: 559. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01655-1. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6656525 - SquamBase 1.0 - a dataset of squamate species traits · CC0 1.0 · 1.0-dryad-v5
Meiri, S. (2024) SquamBase - a database of squamate (Reptilia: Squamata) traits. Global Ecology and Biogeography 33(4): e13812. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13812. Data: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.76hdr7t3b - TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe · CC BY 4.0 · 2.0
Chauvier, Y., Adde, A., Bergamini, A. et al. (2025) TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15063844 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
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Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Western black widow (Latrodectus hesperus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/western-black-widow
“Western black widow (Latrodectus hesperus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/western-black-widow.
@misc{western_black_widow_2026,
title = {Western black widow (Latrodectus hesperus)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/western-black-widow},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}