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.