Stats

Lifespan

1-3 yrs

Size

Medium

Diet

Insectivore

Activity

Nocturnal

Social

Solitary

Biome

Desert

Range

North America

Movement

Climbing

Breeding

Egg-laying

Defense

Venom

Status

Common

About

A glossy black cobweb spider found across western North America, best known for the red hourglass marking on the underside of the female's rounded abdomen. Despite its fearsome reputation, it is shy and only bites defensively when its web is disturbed.

Life cycle

1. 1.
   egg sac

   A silk-wrapped egg sac shelters a clutch of eggs until the young are ready to emerge.
2. 2.
   juvenile

   A spiderling emerges from the egg sac already in miniature adult form and starts catching prey almost immediately.
3. 3.
   subadult

   A near-adult arachnid molts through several instars, growing larger and developing mature markings.
4. 4.
   adult

   Fully grown after its final molt.

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Taxonomy

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Arachnida

Order

Araneae

Family

Theridiidae

Genus

Latrodectus

Species

Latrodectus hesperus