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Black Widow with Racing Stripes?

monkeywrench133

monkeywrench133

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I found this guy hanging out in my mailbox the other day. I've seen many, many Black Widows around here over the years, but never one with markings like this. Has anyone else seen one like this?

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Latrodectus variolus Northern Black Widow.
Fairly common as far south as Georgia, but also found in most other parts of North America as well. Quite a few are also found in my bug rack :)

Still has a mean bite, so caution is advised.
 
Looks like a variolus, it is for sure a young male and size seems to indicate a variolus as the males leg span of variolus is almost as big as the females.
There are a few select populations of variolus here in southern Michigan.
keep in mind there are a lot of juvie widows that carry the round stripes on the abdomen. Heck some adult variolus females up here have a fully red striped abdomen.
 
forgot to mention, the bite is every bit as bad as other widows. Don't let the size fool you, the chelicerae of these little guys can pierce harder skin [like your hand]
 
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