October sunrise

Black widow spider

We caught this in the house this morning. I had brought in some stonecrop that I haven't potted yet, and the spider had apparently been hiding inside it. It is the western black widow spider (Latrodectus hesperus), native to California and famous for its venomous bite.  This is a female; the males are brown and much smaller, in fact hardly resembling this at all.

It was a bit difficult to get a good photo, as the camera wanted to focus on the glass of the jam jar, not on the spider, but the top photo is what you would ordinarily see, and the bottom photo is of course the distinctive red-orange "hour glass" shape on its abdomen. 

More on black and brown widows from the UC Integrated Pest Management program and the Hastings Natural History Reservation.