Latrodectus list of species
Video (with pictures) of widow species from around the world:
(Disclaimer: I cannot attest to the correctness of the species in each picture.)
(Video courtesy of ready2ruckk from youtube.com)
(Video courtesy of tarantulasmortum from youtube.com)
List of species, who described them, what year, and the primary location:
Latrodectus antheratus (Badcock, 1932) — Paraguay, Argentina
Latrodectus apicalis Butler, 1877 — Galapagos Islands
Latrodectus bishopi Kaston, 1938 — USA
Latrodectus cinctus Blackwall, 1865 — Cape Verde Islands, Africa, Kuwait
Latrodectus corallinus Abalos, 1980 — Argentina
Latrodectus curacaviensis (Müller, 1776) — Lesser Antilles, South America
Latrodectus dahli Levi, 1959 — Middle East to Central Asia
Latrodectus diaguita Carcavallo, 1960 — Argentina
Latrodectus elegans Thorell, 1898 — China, Myanmar, Japan
Latrodectus erythromelas Schmidt & Klaas, 1991 — Sri Lanka
Latrodectus geometricus C. L. Koch, 1841 — Cosmopolitan
Latrodectus hasselti Thorell, 1870 — Southeast Asia to Australia, New Zealand
Latrodectus hesperus Chamberlin & Ivie, 1935 — North America, Israel
Latrodectus hystrix Simon, 1890 — Yemen, Socotra
Latrodectus indistinctus O. P.-Cambridge, 1904 — Namibia, South Africa
Latrodectus karrooensis Smithers, 1944 — South Africa
Latrodectus katipo Powell, 1871 — New Zealand
Latrodectus lilianae Melic, 2000 — Spain
Latrodectus mactans (Fabricius, 1775) — probably native to North America only (introduced elsewhere)
Latrodectus menavodi Vinson, 1863 — Madagascar, Comoro Islands
Latrodectus mirabilis (Holmberg, 1876) — Argentina
Latrodectus obscurior Dahl, 1902 — Cape Verde Islands, Madagascar
Latrodectus pallidus O. P.-Cambridge, 1872 — Cape Verde Islands, Libya to Russia, Iran
Latrodectus quartus Abalos, 1980 — Argentina
Latrodectus renivulvatus Dahl, 1902 — Africa, Saudi Arabia, Yemen
Latrodectus revivensis Shulov, 1948 — Israel
Latrodectus rhodesiensis Mackay, 1972 — Southern Africa
Latrodectus tredecimguttatus (Rossi, 1790) — Mediterranean to China
Latrodectus variegatus Nicolet, 1849 — Chile, Argentina
Latrodectus variolus Walckenaer, 1837 — USA, Canada
And a tree diagram of some of the species:
(Image courtesy of Jeremy Miller, tolweb.org)
Widow species by region:
North American Widow Spiders
The following widow spiders are indigenous to North America:
Latrodectus bishopi, the red widow, Florida, USA
Latrodectus geometricus, the brown widow, from northeastern US to Texas with predominance in the southeast. Now found as far west as California.
Latrodectus hesperus, the Western black widow, western Canada, United States, and Mexico.
Latrodectus mactans, the black widow spider (sometimes called the Southern black widow), warm regions of the USA.
Latrodectus variolus, the Northern black widow, from the extreme southeastern part of Canada and south to northern Florida, with frequency higher in the northern part of this range.
Widows of Central and South America
The following are indigenous to Central and South America.
Latrodectus antheratus, Paraguay, Argentina
Latrodectus apicalis, Galapagos Islands
Latrodectus corallinus, Argentina
Latrodectus curacaviensis, Lesser Antilles, South America
Latrodectus diaguita, Argentina
Latrodectus mirabilis, Argentina
Latrodectus quartus, Argentina
Latrodectus variegatus, Chile and Argentina
Widows of Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and Western Asia
The following widows indigenous to the Mediterranean region, as well as in western Asia.
Latrodectus dahli, Middle East to central Asia.
Latrodectus hystrix, Yemen, Socotra
Latrodectus lilianae, Iberian Peninsula
Latrodectus pallidus, the white widow or white steppe spider, North Africa, the Middle East, Russia, Iran, Cape Verde.
Latrodectus revivensis, Israel.
Latrodectus tredecimguttatus, the Mediterranean Black Widow (or European Black Widow), Mediterranean area, central Asia, Kazakhstan. Also reported in China. Some specimens are reported as L. lugubris.
Widows of Sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar
Latrodectus cinctus, a black button spider found in southern Africa, Cape Verde and Kuwait.
Latrodectus indistinctus, a black button spider found in South Africa and Namibia
Latrodectus karrooensis, a black button spider sound in S. Africa
Latrodectus menavodi, found in Madagascar
Latrodectus obscurior, found in Cape Verde and Madagascar
Latrodectus renivulvatus, a black button spider found in Africa, Saudi Arabia and Yemen
Latrodectus rhodesiensis, a brown button spid er found in Zimbabwe
Widows of South, East, and Southeast Asia
Latrodectus elegans, China, Myanmar, Japan
Latrodectus erythromelas, Sri Lanka
Australia and Oceania
Latrodectus hasselti, the redback spider, native to Australia. Also found in Southeast Asia and New Zealand, imported into both regions.
Latrodectus katipo, the red katipo, fo und in New Zealand
Widows found worldwide
Latrodectus geometricus, the brown widow, grey widow, or brown button spider, Africa, USA, S. America, Australia. It is unclear where this spider originated; however it has been discovered in many warm, cosmopolitan locales.