Sonja�s First Encounter with the Venomous Fauna of California
Black Widow (Latrodectus mactans)
The other day Chris ran into a sticky spiderweb in the garage. I cautioned him that the webs of black widows are unusually sticky. We inspected the area carefully but didn�t find any arachnids. The very next day at work a co-worker pointed out this large spider in the laboratory. We zipped it into a sampling jar only to discover that it was partially filled with acid. So much for our live specimen. I learned later that only the females are venomous; the males are brown and about half the size of the females. And, contrary to popular belief, the females only very rarely eat the males. Thankfully, both are very shy and tend to avoid humans. Cool picture, huh? :)
