CLOSED: Black Widow?

I found this spider in my shed between boxes and I am not sure if it is a black widow or not. I don't see any red on it; it is completely black with a big shiny round body. I think I see two very faint triangle spots at about mid back that look whitish gray in bright light. It looks like a western black widow when I compare it to pictures on the web, but with no red. I did see one picture on the web that shows a black widow with no red on it but I am not sure. I removed this spider from my shed, but I see a few babies that look the same (they were in the same web) and I am worried that I might have a problem. Please let me know what you think! Thank you, Anne.

suunto will have to id for sure but it looks very like a black widow to me. are you able to see the underside?

don't be alarmed, yet. wait for someone who can give you a positive id.

I am able to see the under side and I do have some pictures of it.

good, post them here.

Where are you located, Hanaryu? This spider is in the same family (Theridiidae) as the black widow; it may be in the genus Steatoda, at least one species of which reportedly can have a medically significant bite.

We live in Portland, Oregon. And here's a picture of the bottom:

here are some pictures. i just typed in the genus. http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=steatoda%20spider&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

It looks exactly like this one: http://media.photobucket.com/image/steatoda%20spider/cottonmanifesto/Jef20078/zne03210802.jpg but they don't say what it is besides the genus either.

well, suunto is the best. he'll be back with more info for you. he's probably researching right now.

was there any other color on the underside? your picture was kind of hard to see.

Sorry about that, we actually still have him in a jar and we've been taking pictures of him through the glass. I've checked, but the only thing I see is two faint lines and a faint patch on either side of the end of the abdomen.

well, that info will help. it's a very interesting spider but i'm out of my league. my money is on suunto to correctly identify it for you.

This definitely is a Steatoda, but the exact species may be undetermined. There are at least three species that could occur in your area whose general appearance can resemble yours; Steatoda borealis (see http://tinyurl.com/n9o9tf for an example), S. grossa (see http://tinyurl.com/lvkqoj for an example), and S. hespera (see http://tinyurl.com/lr5ns5 for an example). Because of individual variations in color, images alone sometimes cannot positively differentiate these species; a specialist would have to do a dissection.

here is another interesting link for you to read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steatoda

Looking at the pictures, I think it's the Steatoda Borealis, it looks exactly alike.

I've looked into it more, and I think it is the female Steatoda Borealis, would there be any issue with having young ones roaming around my shed? We're going to have relatives coming from New York and I'm trying to clean it.

You may want to evict them for the visit; members of this genus can give a very painful bite, as I can personally attest.

maybe bomb the shed. otherwise you'd never get enough spray to all the nooks and crannies.

i just killed on on my wall of my house in my bedroom. and im deathly afraid of spiders. Suunto it looked just like this one. http://tinyurl.com/lr5ns5 and i almost fainted when i saw it it looked like a black widow on steroids. and ive never seen a spider like that.

@collinsjdc - It always is best to start a new thread rather than 'hitchhiking' on an existing one, especially a Solved or Closed one. That aside, what you have most likely is another Steatoda, not a black widow, but one cannot be sure without seeing an image.