CLOSED: Black spider with red back - I'm freaked - what is it?

Hmmm...I just looked through pictures of the northern black widow and I do not think it is it. The one I found was blockier/thicker and it red/orange symbol was rather small unlike the N.B.W. I really wish I could have taken a pic but I was a little freaked out. It largely resembles a mouse spider but I could not find a pic of one with a red/orange bar on it's back.

http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/go/1267/

and here's the "rogue's gallery" of other black widow spiders in our BugFiles: http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/b/Araneae/Theridiidae/Latrodectus/none/genus/0/

Thanks for the link! I do not think it's a black widow (or at least I hope not) since it's body is so blocky and legs so thick although the shiny blackness is correct. But I have never seen a spider that looks like this one. Can anyone help me id it? I have a 6 month old and am rather worried it's venomous.

Was its shape anything like http://tinyurl.com/ljvo82 or http://tinyurl.com/ya6y5vq? The only spiders in Georgia that are both dangerous to humans and likely to be encountered outdoors are the widow spiders in the genus Latrodectus. There are several other species capable of inflicting a painful but not dangerous bite.

Yes, it's body was stocky like the jumping spider but it had no hair. It was completely sleek and shiny, all black with a very small bar/hourglass shape on its hind.

At this point, all I can suggest is that should you see another one, please try to take a photo of it.

I too found about 20 of these black spiders with orange on its back (not tummy) in VA in my inlaws basement. I didnt think to take photos though, I was too busy sneaking raid down there before my son got around them on the off chance they were dangerous. Thanx for the information! I have been looking for any information for 2 years now!!

Message 1 of 2
Just found this little critter today. YES, she is a black widow with red hourglass on bottom and red stripe on top. She was found in the White Mountains of Arizona at 6,500 feet elevation. Will send picture of hourglass bottom in next message.

Message 2 of 2
Just found this little critter today. YES, she is a black widow with red hourglass on bottom and red stripe on top. She was found in the White Mountains of Arizona at 6,500 feet elevation. Will send picture of hourglass bottom in next message.

Ewwww! Wish I hadn't clicked on that thumbnail photo. Don't like to see them that up close and personal! That's interesting with the red stripe on her back. What variety of black widow is that? I've never seen one like that before.

fleursdefouquet and supergrover thanks so much for posing this question and solving the mystery. I found this same spider in my bathtub about a year ago, and have been trying to identify it ever since. All I found on the Internet was the Australian Red Back, but as fleursdefouquet said, my spider did not have such a bulbous round back, nor was it as shiny. Now I know it was a Castianeira. But I still have these questions: was it dangerous, and how did it get in my bathtub in the middle of New York City?

fleursdefouquet, thank you for starting this very informative thread and to everyone else who contributed very helpful info. I found this very same spider in our garage and was freaked out, thought that was a black widow, so happy to know it isn't. I can now rest easy. Thanks again.

I saw a spider like that one jlg1067 posted. I hate spiders and I have a little dog. I already looked up all the names you said it could be. None seem to match it. Im completely freaked out. I want to know if you know if its poisons or maybe a name that COULD match that spider..... Just looking at spider pictures freak me out. It was crawling on my floor when i went to catch it (screaming the whole time) It jumped. WHAT is that spider!!!!! My dog cant be bite by a spider he is little he will get ill. Please help me.... He was solid black even the tummy expect that one red strip like jlg1067 picture.. please what is it?

WILL IT hurt my dog please someone anwser....

If your spider is the same as in jlg1067's picture, it is in the family Clubionidae and is harmless. See Post #5079878.

the photographs that lizard tracks posted are the typical markings of all the north american black widow females, as juveniles

they lose this colouration in steps, in a gradual progression, with each molting.

the last remaining traces are usually just red dots down the middle of the back.

the older she is, ... the more times she's molted, ... the less markings on her back

if she lives long enough, the red hourglass on the belly can break up and go away, too

Uma, here, ... has only one red dot remaining on her back, right above her spinneret


This message was edited Oct 25, 2011 10:52 AM

she also has this one last little crest, on top at the front.

it will surely be gone with the next molting, ... and her dorsal tail dot mostly gone, too

I just moved into my place and have been finding a LOT of spiders. Most of which are harmless and of no concern. However, about 2 weeks ago I was outside and picked up a lid for the garage can and the largest Black Widow I have ever seen had made its web inside. Inside along with the widow were 2 other spiders. One was small black, and had a white hourglass, and the other was brown. It looked a lot like a male widow spider. I took care of the issue. But then I found a similar web above my door trim today. I sprayed the spider and found that there was a black spider behind the web. I grabbed a broom and took care of that. Although I am not positive; I believe it was a black widow as well based off of the web. Then today in my kitchen, on the conner of my table I found a dead spider. At first glance I thought it was a young widow. But when I started looking closely...It is looking more like that Red Backed Spider. If you look very close. You can see white or maybe yellow markings on the sides. I am in Fort Smith, AR.

Bottom View.

crash, that is a male black widow, ... a dead one

ok so 2 days ago i came across a brown recluse
running around on my computer
desk so i did what any
sane person would do i fulshed him
out and kill'ed him he was very
large (fact) he was the largest
brown recluse spider i have ever seen
in real life (don't get me wrong
i'm not afraid of spiders however
they do creep the heck out of me)
then a few days later i come across
a different different spider running
around on my desk this one however
was not a brown recluse it was a
good size a black hairy one with a
red dot on it's back and large fangs
i looked from a safe Distance to
see if it may have been a black
widow spider but as i said it just
had a red dot on it's back no
hourglass shape just a red dot on
it's back so i pushed him into a jar
with a piece of paper took him outside
and stepped on him. i have no clue
what kind he was i have yet to
come across a picture or anything
identifying him.

If a spider was running around on a computer desk (or anywhere else out in the open), the chances are almost 100 percent that it would NOT be a brown recluse spider. There is a reason they are called 'recluse'...

Was hesitant to bring this thread back up, but i see someone did very recently. Just found the spider mentioned in this thread in my house tonight. Had it not been for our Dog pointing it out, my girlfriend probably wouldnt have seen it cowering at the threshold of our door waiting to get outside. It was smashed before we even thought to look underneath for an hourglass, but i didnt notice one on the remains. What did stand out were the legs that weren't solid black, they were kind of striped black and tan, like the image posted just above. Would love to know if this is a widow or not. I'll let you know what orkin can tell me about the remains, if anything. Location: Augusta, GA.

kojak, ... definitely adolescent black widow

as they lose red and cream markings in successive moltings,
the amber bands on their legs darken, as well

This message was edited Nov 12, 2011 9:12 AM

Ithink that black widow is spider of your search..
try out some authorities:

http://www.spiderbitesymptomsguide.com/the-black-widow
http://www.medicinenet.com/spider_bites_black_widow_and_brown_recluse/article.htm
http://www.emedicinehealth.com/wilderness_black_widow_and_recluse_spider_bite/page2_em.htm

Just adding in my two cents on the northern black widow.
Have definitely ween them with a spotty "stripe" as on our bug file.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/showimage/13084/
If you haven't seen them already, you might want to take a peek, just to file that bit of info away.
I had never seen one before I went to visit my parents on the eastern shore of virginia.
Before the only experience I had ever had was with the typical hourglass.
But the shinyness and body shape are pretty unmistakeable.

I actually think I had a juvenile northern widow in my daylily garden last summer. The web was a mess, no form or shape to it at all and a small white spotted black spider was in it. I had never seen a spider like this before. After reading how they can change color as they mature, I considered that I may have seen a young northern widow.

you are not mistaken. in arkansas there are australlian redback spiders. i have seen them on many occations. being of the widow family they hide in the same cool dark and sometimes damp enviorment. a lot of times i will hastily mistake one for the other but in the end staying away is the best way to avoid them. their favorite place in the entire world to hide is in old tires that have a little water in them. there is a 90% chance of finding one here. i can go out in my yard and overturn a few objects and find a few of either species. and as far as the spiders in the dirt dobber nest goes; the perents build the nest of mud. they theyn lay the larva sach. before sealing the whole of they go around collecting a certain type of spider. the ones you saw. this is their favorite food. they stun them and close of the nest so that the baby will have food ready for it when it hatches and energy to escape from the hardend nest.

We just found this guy in my car...crawling over my wife's shoulder. We live in Eastern Virginia and have no idea how it got in my vehicle. At first i thought it was a Black Widow but the bottom only had 2 small orange colored dots and the top displayed an orange red solid stripe.
Looks like what has been identified as a Red Black Spider?? Any guesses and are Red Blacks poisonous?

This looks like a harmless spider in the family Corinnidae - http://bugguide.net/node/view/560407

BTW, rather than appending a new image/question to an existing (and especially closed) thread, you should start a new one.