Black Widow Spider

by Nikolyn McDonald

Title

Black Widow Spider

Artist

Nikolyn McDonald

Medium

Photograph

Description

This female black widow spider (Theridiidae) was hanging out on a web she had spun under a low-hanging leaf in a garden flower bed. She was actually quite low to the ground and it was very difficult to see her against the dark earth. I asked a helper to hold a piece of light-colored paper well behind her so that she would stand out for her portrait. Unfortunately, that made the silk strands almost impossible to see; I recreated the only two I could make out - there were actually a lot of them as this species weaves a messy, tangled web. Widow spiders get their name from the fact that the females are known to eat the male after mating. They don't do this as often in the wild where the male can get away - he's not stupid and actually only "offers" to mate when he can sense chemicals in the web that tell him the female has eaten recently and is unlikely to engage in cannibalism.

Uploaded

August 1st, 2023

Colors

Embed

Share

Tags