Northern black widow

Latrodectus variolus

Eats: Other bugs and small animals SpidersGardens and meadows8 legsNot an insect, but a bug cousin

The northern black widow is a shiny black spider from North America. It is a close cousin of the red widow.

Fun fact: spiders are not insects. Insects have six legs, spiders have eight. Everyone calls them bugs anyway!

Lives in

Eastern North America, from the Middle Atlantic states north to Massachusetts and southern Canada

Top speed

about 1.2 km/h (0.75 mph)

On foot, estimate

Can it hurt you?

Dangerous: look, do not touch

What does it eat?

Like other spiders, it catches insects and other small creatures and eats them.

A tortoise about 0.3 km/h (0.19 mph)

Northern black widow about 1.2 km/h (0.75 mph)

A person walking about 5 km/h (3.1 mph)

A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)

cool stuff

Fun facts

In spring, when it is looking for a mate, it can travel north along the coast.

you asked

?Where does the northern black widow live?

In eastern North America, mostly in the Middle Atlantic states, and sometimes as far north as southern Canada.

Latrodectus variolus (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
Picture by Marshal Hedin. CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at hello@bugwiki.app and we will fix it.