Male black widow spiders destroy large sections of the female's web during courtship and wrap it up in their own silk. New research shows that this home-wrecking behavior deters rival males, by ...

For black widow spiders, ... With 40 males for every female in a given population, a male spider faces fierce competition and will do about anything to hold onto his new companion.

The lifespan of male and female black widow spiders is another point of contrast. Females typically live between 10 to 18 months, whereas males only live for 3 to 5 months.

This variation in coloring means that black widow spiders can be tricky to spot if they aren’t black and red females. 2. Only female spiders bite … usually. While both male and female black ...

The male black widow spider is smaller than its female counterpart and may be black, brown or tan with banded legs. They may ...

A male brown widow spider mates with a much-larger female. ( Sean McCann ) It’s hard to imagine, at first glance, why any widow male would deign to mate with an adult female.

The female will often kill the male — a common practice among widow spiders, and how they got their name. Male brown widow spiders live for six months to a year.

When Lacey A. Bluemel saw her first black widow spider tucked beneath a woodpile at her East Falmouth home back in October ...

Of the over 46,000 known spider species, only about 200 have venom potent enough to be of medical concern. This is assuming, of course, that an individual isn’t allergic to specific components ...

The bites of female widow spiders tend to pose more of a risk to humans than those of males. The 8-year-old boy in Bolivia found the black widow spider under a stone.

Male Black Widow Spider: Female Black Widow Spider: Size: 0.5-1 inch: 1.5-2 inches: Appearance: Brown or grey, red spots on ...