Nicholas Brandley didn’t think so, and embraced the study of black widow spiders ... involving the spider’s prey. Had evolution finessed the spiders’ color scheme to warn off birds ...

The most common species of black widow spider in North America is Latrodectus mactans, which is a shiny black color. On its ...

Fortunately, fatalities are fairly rare; the spiders are nonaggressive and bite only in self-defense, such as when someone accidentally sits on them. The animals most at risk from the black widow' ...

The shape and color of false black widows often cause people ... The bite is neuropathic like the black widow, but it generally does not spread, so it’s painful but not life threatening. These spiders ...