Taxon details


Latrodectus geometricus C. L. Koch, 1841

  • Rank: Species
  • Status: accepted
  • Described: m f
  • Last updated: 2023-12-28
  • LSID: [urn:lsid:nmbe.ch:spidersp:007809]
  • Distribution: Africa. Introduced to both Americas, Middle East, Pakistan, India, China, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Australia, Hawaii
Type deposit provide information
  • Holotype: Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin (ZMB), Germany (database export of type material, March 2019); f (2249)
  • Holotype: Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin (ZMB), Germany (database export of type material, March 2019); f (2832) of Theridium zickzack
  • Holotype: Museo Zoologico di Storia Naturale "La Specola", Università degli Studi di Firenze (MZUF), Florence, Italy; f (631) of Latrodectus geometricus subalbicans (Berdondini & Whitman, 2003)
  • Holotype: British Museum of Natural History (BMNH)/Natural History Museum (NHMUK), London, UK; jf of Chacoca distincta (Levi, 1959c)
  • Syntype: Museo Zoologico di Storia Naturale "La Specola", Università degli Studi di Firenze (MZUF), Florence, Italy; 1f (629) of Latrodectus geometricus modestus (Berdondini & Whitman, 2003)
  • Syntype: Museo Zoologico di Storia Naturale "La Specola", Università degli Studi di Firenze (MZUF), Florence, Italy; 1f 1j (632) of Latrodectus geometricus obscuratus (Berdondini & Whitman, 2003)
  • Syntype: Oxford University Museum of Natural History (OUMNH), Oxford, UK; 1m 3f 1j (1727-1728) of Latrodectus concinnus (Lotz, 1994a)
Taxonomic references
Latrodectus geometricus C. L. Koch, 1841a: 117, f. 684 (Df).
Latrodectus geometricus Thorell, 1875e: 138, pl. 25, f. 4 (f).
Theridium zickzack Karsch, 1878b: 311, pl. 8, f. 1 (Df).
Latrodectus geometricus Keyserling, 1884a: 148, pl. 7, f. 92 (f, Dm).
Latrodectus geometricus F. O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1902a: 378, pl. 35, f. 23-24.
Latrodectus geometricus F. O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1902c: 252, pl. 27, f. 7.
Latrodectus concinnus O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1904b: 152, pl. 10, f. 3-4 (Dmf).
Latrodectus geometricus Strand, 1908f: 464, f. B, D (f).
Latrodectus geometricus Carbonell, 1923a: 351, f. 1.
Latrodectus geometricus Brazil & Vellard, 1926: 266, pl. 22, 2 unnumbered figs. (mf).
Latrodectus geometricus Petrunkevitch, 1930a: 175, f. 14-16 (f).
Chacoca distincta Badcock, 1932: 11, f. 7 (Df).
Latrodectus geometricus Smithers, 1944: 301, f. 6c, 7b, 8d, 17-20 (mf, S of Latrodectus concinnus).
Latrodectus geometricus modestus Caporiacco, 1949a: 376 (Df).
Latrodectus geometricus subalbicans Caporiacco, 1949a: 376 (Df).
Latrodectus geometricus obscuratus Caporiacco, 1949a: 377 (Df).
Latrodectus geometricus Levi, 1959c: 21, f. 8-10, 25-28, 37, 39-51, 80-83 (mf, S of Latrodectus geometricus modestus, L. g. obscuratus and L. g. subalbicans).
Latrodectus geometricus Biasi, 1962: 327, f. 1-2 (f).
Latrodectus geometricus Levi & Levi, 1962: 59, f. 253 (f).
Latrodectus geometricus Abalos & Báez, 1963: 198, f. 1-3, 20-22 (mf).
Latrodectus geometricus Chrysanthus, 1963: 737, f. 53-54, 113 (f).
Latrodectus geometricus Gerschman & Schiapelli, 1965c: 59, f. 10-11 (mf).
Latrodectus geometricus Abalos, 1967: 269, f. 11A-D (mf).
Latrodectus geometricus Abalos & Báez, 1967a: 24, f. 9-10, 15-16 (mf).
Latrodectus geometricus Abalos & Báez, 1967b: 60, f. 4.11-12, 7-8 (mf).
Latrodectus geometricus Levi, 1967c: 185, f. 57-59 (mf).
Latrodectus geometricus Zumpt, 1968: 385, f. 2 (f).
Latrodectus geometricus Abalos, 1980: 49, f. 17, 65-68 (mf, S).
Latrodectus geometricus Levy & Amitai, 1983: 56, f. 42-46 (mf).
Latrodectus geometricus Müller, 1985a: 27, f. 1-3 (f).
Latrodectus geometricus Lotz, 1994a: 11, f. 1a-d, 2a, 2c-d, 8a (mf).
Latrodectus geometricus Lotz, 1994b: 11, f. 1a-d, 2a, 2c-d, 8a (mf).
Latrodectus geometricus Levy, 1998b: 110, f. 203-206 (f).
Latrodectus geometricus Knoflach & van Harten, 2002: 339, f. 2, 20-28 (mf).
Latrodectus geometoricus Yoshida, 2003a: 48, f. 97-102 (mf, lapsus).
Latrodectus geometricus Knoflach & Pfaller, 2004: 138, f. 21a-b (m).
Latrodectus geometricus Agnarsson, 2004: 569, f. 54A-C, F, 55A-H (mf).
Latrodectus geometricus Agnarsson, Coddington & Knoflach, 2007: 345, f. 12 (m).
Latrodectus geometricus Shukla & Broome, 2007: 775, f. 1, 2a-c (f).
Latrodectus geometricus Bayram et al., 2008b: 100, f. 2-3, 4a-d (mf).
Latrodectus geometricus Yoshida, 2009b: 363, f. 74-77 (mf).
Latrodectus geometricus Saaristo, 2010: 276, f. 37.154 (mf).
Latrodectus geometricus Le Peru, 2011: 455, f. 742 (f).
Latrodectus geometricus Simó et al., 2013: 372, f. 1-2 (mf).
Latrodectus geometricus Satam, 2015: 37, f. 1-7 (mf).
Latrodectus geometricus Muslimin et al., 2015: 1, f. 2A-E, G, I (mf).
Latrodectus geometricus Rozwałka, Dawidowicz & Wawer, 2017: 62, f. 3-4 (f).
Latrodectus geometricus Cazanove, 2019: 11, f. 1A-B, 2, 3A-B, 4, 7A-B (f).
Latrodectus geometricus Wang & Zhang, 2019: 124, f. 1, 2A-B, 3A-G (mf).
Latrodectus geometricus Sentenská et al., 2021: 3, f. 1a-c, 3a-b, 4a-b, 9a-d (mf).
Latrodectus geometricus Cabrera-Espinosa & Valdez-Mondragón, 2021: 4, f. 14-16, 18-20, 27-29, 38-41 (mf).
Latrodectus geometricus Dippenaar-Schoeman et al., 2021z: 39, p. 37: 1 f., p. 39: 5 f., p. 40: 4 f., p. 41: 3 f. (mf).
Latrodectus geometricus Abdel-Ghani, Hassan & Sallam, 2023: 37, f. 26a-b (mf).
References

Abalos, J. W. & Báez, E. C. (1963). On spermatic transmission in spiders. Psyche, Cambridge 70(4): 197-207. doi:10.1155/1963/93732 download pdf -- Show included taxa

Abalos, J. W. (1967). La transferencia espermática en las arácnidos. Revistas de la Universidad Nacional de Córdoba (2) 9: 251-278. download pdf -- Show included taxa

Abalos, J. W. & Báez, E. C. (1967a). Las arañas del genero Latrodectus en Santiago del Estero. Revistas de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales de la Universidad Nacional de Córdoba 27: 6-30. download pdf -- Show included taxa

Abalos, J. W. & Báez, E. C. (1967b). The spider genus Latrodectus in Santiago del Estero, Argentina. In: Animal Toxins. Pergamon Press, Oxford, pp. 59-74. download pdf -- Show included taxa

Abalos, J. W. (1980). Las arañas del género Latrodectus en la Argentina. Obra del Centenário del Museu de La Plata 6: 29-51. download pdf -- Show included taxa

Abdel-Ghani, D. M. A., Hassan, M. F. & Sallam, G. M. E. (2023). Spiders as a bio-agent factor in a mango greenhouse at Giza Governorate, Egypt. Serket 20(1): 26-38. download pdf -- Show included taxa

Agnarsson, I. (2004). Morphological phylogeny of cobweb spiders and their relatives (Araneae, Araneoidea, Theridiidae). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 141(4): 447-626. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2004.00120.x download pdf -- Show included taxa

Agnarsson, I., Coddington, J. A. & Knoflach, B. (2007). Morphology and evolution of cobweb spider male genitalia (Araneae, Theridiidae). Journal of Arachnology 35: 334-395. download pdf -- Show included taxa

Badcock, H. D. (1932). Reports of an expedition to Paraguay and Brazil in 1926–7, supported by the Trustees of the Percy Sladen Memorial Fund and the Executive Committee of the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland. Arachnida from the Paraguayan Chaco. Journal of the Linnean Society of London, Zoology 38(257): 1-48. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.1932.tb00987.x download pdf -- Show included taxa

Bayram, A., Danışman, T., Yiğit, N., Kunt, K. B. & Sancak, Z. (2008b). A brown widow spider new for the Turkish araneo-fauna: Latrodectus geometricus C.L.Koch, 1841 (Araneae, Theridiidae). Turkish Journal of Arachnology 1(1): 98-103. download pdf -- Show included taxa

Biasi, P. de (1962). Estrutura interna e presença de segmentos do êmbolo no epígino de Latrodectus geometricus (Araneida: Theridiidae). Papéis Avulsos do Departamento de Zoologia, Secretaria de Agricultura, Sao Paolo 15: 327-331. download pdf -- Show included taxa

Brazil, V. & Vellard, J. (1926). Contribuição ao estudo do veneno das aranhas (continuação) (segunda memoria) Lycosa raptoriaCtenus nigriventer–genero Latrodectus–genero GrammostolaLasiodora curtior e Acanthoscuria sternalis. Memórias do Instituto Butantan 3: 243-299, Pl. 12-22. download pdf -- Show included taxa

Cabrera-Espinosa, L. A. & Valdez-Mondragón, A. (2021). Distribución y modelaje de nicho ecológico, comentarios biogeográficos y taxonómicos del género de arañas Latrodectus (Araneae: Theridiidae) de México. Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidad 92(e923665): 1-20. doi:10.22201/ib.20078706e.2021.92.3665 download pdf -- Show included taxa

Caporiacco, L. di (1949a). Aracnidi della colonia del Kenya raccolti da Toschi e Meneghetti negli anni 1944-1946. Commentationes Pontificia Academia Scientiarum 13: 309-492. download pdf -- Show included taxa

Carbonell, J. (1923a). Algunos datos sobre las arañas del género Latrodectus que se hallan en la Argentina. Physis 6: 350-353. download pdf -- Show included taxa

Cazanove, G. (2019). Premier signalement de Latrodectus geometricus (Araneae, Theridiidae) sur l’île de La Réunion (Océan Indien) avec quelques notes sur son élevage. Revue Arachnologique (2) 6: 10-15. download pdf -- Show included taxa

Chrysanthus, P. (1963). Spiders from south New Guinea V. Nova Guinea, Zoology 24: 727-750. download pdf -- Show included taxa

Dippenaar-Schoeman, A. S., Haddad, C. R., Foord, S. H. & Lotz, L. N. (2021z). The Theridiidae of South Africa. Part 1 A-P. Version 1. South African National Survey of Arachnida Photo Identification Guide, Irene, 69 pp. doi:10.5281/zenodo.7515890 download pdf -- Show included taxa

Gerschman de P., B. S. & Schiapelli, R. D. (1965c). El género Latrodectus Walckenaer, 1805 (Araneae: Theridiidae) en la Argentina. Revista de la Sociedad Entomológica Argentina 27: 51-59. download pdf -- Show included taxa

Karsch, F. (1878b). Über einige von Herrn JM Hildebrandt im Zanzibargebiete erbeutete Arachniden. Zeitschrift für die Gesammten Naturwissenschaften 51: 311-322. download pdf -- Show included taxa

Keyserling, E. (1884a). Die Spinnen Amerikas II. Theridiidae. Bauer & Raspe, Nürnberg 1, 1-222. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.64832 download pdf -- Show included taxa

Knoflach, B. & Harten, A. van (2002). The genus Latrodectus (Araneae: Theridiidae) from mainland Yemen, the Socotra Archipelago and adjacent countries. Fauna of Arabia 19: 321-361. download pdf -- Show included taxa

Knoflach, B. & Pfaller, K. (2004). Kugelspinnen – eine Einführung (Araneae, Theridiidae). In: Thaler, K. (ed.) Diversität und Biologie von Webspinnen, Skorpionen und anderen Spinnentieren. Denisia 12: 111-160. download pdf -- Show included taxa

Koch, C. L. (1841a). Die Arachniden. C. H. Zeh'sche Buchhandlung, Nürnberg, Achter Band, pp. 41-131, pl. 265-288 (f. 621-694); Neunter Band, pp. 1-56, pl. 289-306 (f. 695-726). [for the correct year of publication see Brignoli, 1985b] doi:10.5962/bhl.title.43744 download pdf -- Show included taxa

Le Peru, B. (2011). The spiders of Europe, a synthesis of data: Volume 1 Atypidae to Theridiidae. Mémoires de la Société Linnéenne de Lyon 2: 1-522. download pdf -- Show included taxa

Levi, H. W. (1959c). The spider genus Latrodectus (Araneae, Theridiidae). Transactions of the American Microscopical Society 78(1): 7-43. doi:10.2307/3223799 download pdf -- Show included taxa

Levi, H. W. & Levi, L. R. (1962). The genera of the spider family Theridiidae. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 127: 1-71. download pdf -- Show included taxa

Levi, H. W. (1967c). Cosmopolitan and pantropical species of theridiid spiders (Araneae: Theridiidae). Pacific Insects 9: 175-186. download pdf -- Show included taxa

Levy, G. & Amitai, P. (1983). Revision of the widow-spider genus Latrodectus (Araneae: Theridiidae) in Israel. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 77(1): 39-63. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.1983.tb01720.x download pdf download pdf -- Show included taxa

Levy, G. (1998b). Araneae: Theridiidae. In: Fauna Palaestina, Arachnida III. Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Jerusalem, 228 pp. download pdf -- Show included taxa

Lotz, L. N. (1994a). Revision of the genus Latrodectus (Araneae: Theridiidae) in Africa. Navorsinge van die Nasionale Museum Bloemfontein 10: 1-60. download pdf -- Show included taxa

Lotz, L. N. (1994b). The button spiders of southern Africa (Latrodectus: Araneae: Theridiidae). Spider Club News 9(3): 9-16. download pdf -- Show included taxa

Müller, H.-G. (1985a). Abgebrochene Emboli in der Vulva der "Schwarzen Witwe" Latrodectus geometricus C. L. Koch 1841 (Arachnida: Araneae: Theridiidae). Entomologische Zeitschrift 95: 27-30. download pdf -- Show included taxa

Muslimin, M., Wilson, J.-J., Ghazali, A. R. M., Braima, K. A., Jeffery, J., Wan-Nor, F., Alaa-Eldin, M. E., Mohd-Zin, S.-W., Wan-Yusoff, W. S., Norma-Rashid, Y., Lau, Y. L., Rohela, M. & Abdul-Aziz, N. M. (2015). First report of brown widow spider sightings in Peninsular Malaysia and notes on its globaldistribution. Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins including Tropical Diseases 21(11): 1-8. doi:10.1186/s40409-015-0010-2 download pdf -- Show included taxa

Petrunkevitch, A. (1930a). The spiders of Porto Rico. Part two. Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences 30: 159-356. download pdf -- Show included taxa

Pickard-Cambridge, F. O. (1902a). Arachnida - Araneida and Opiliones. In: Biologia Centrali-Americana, Zoology. London 2, 313-424. [for the exact dates see Lyal, 2011] download pdf -- Show included taxa

Pickard-Cambridge, F. O. (1902c). On the spiders of the genus Latrodectus, Walckenaer. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 72(I, 1): 247-261, pl. 26-27. download pdf -- Show included taxa

Pickard-Cambridge, O. (1904b). Descriptions of some new species and characters of three new genera, of Araneidea from South Africa. Annals of the South African Museum 3: 143-165, pl. 9-12. download pdf -- Show included taxa

Rozwałka, R., Dawidowicz, A. & Wawer, W. (2017). Three alien spider species (Araneae: Theridiidae) newly found in Poland. Fragmenta Faunistica 60(1): 61-66. doi:10.3161/00159301FF2017.60.1.061 download pdf -- Show included taxa

Saaristo, M. I. (2010). Araneae. In: Gerlach, J. & Marusik, Y. M. (eds.) Arachnida and Myriapoda of the Seychelles islands. Siri Scientific Press, Manchester, pp. 8-306. download pdf -- Show included taxa

Satam, Y. (2015). Redescription of Latrodectus geometricus Koch, 1841 (Araneae: Therididae [sic]) with a new record of male from Mumbai (India). Indian Journal of Arachnology 4(2): 37-42. download pdf -- Show included taxa

Sentenská, L., Neumann, A., Lubin, Y. & Uhl, G. (2021). Functional morphology of immature mating in a widow spider. Frontiers in Zoology 18(19): 1-18. doi:10.1186/s12983-021-00404-1 download pdf -- Show included taxa

Shukla, A. & Broome, V. G. (2007). First report of the brown widow spider, Latrodectus geometricus C. L. Koch (Araneae: Theridiidae) from India. Current Science 93: 775-777. download pdf -- Show included taxa

Simó, M., Dias, M. F. R., Jorge, C., Castro, M., Dias, M. A. & Laborda, Á. (2013). Habitat, redescription and distribution of Latrodectus geometricus in Uruguay (Araneae: Theridiidae). Biota Neotropica 13: 371-375. doi:10.1590/s1676-06032013000100040 download pdf -- Show included taxa

Smithers, R. H. N. (1944). Contributions to our knowledge of the genus Latrodectus (Araneae) in South Africa. Annals of the South African Museum 36: 263-312. download pdf -- Show included taxa

Strand, E. (1908f). Arachniden aus Madagaskar, gesammelt von Herrn Walter Kaudern. Zoologische Jahrbücher, Abteilung für Systematik, Geographie und Biologie der Tiere 26: 453-488. download pdf -- Show included taxa

Thorell, T. (1875e). On some spiders from New-Caledonia, Madagascar and Réunion. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 43(2): 130-149, pl. 25. download pdf -- Show included taxa

Wang, L. Y. & Zhang, Z. S. (2019). [An invading "black widow" spider was discovered in China]. Acta Arachnologica Sinica 28(2): 124-127. doi:10.3969/j.issn.1005-9628.2019.02.009 download pdf -- Show included taxa

Yoshida, H. (2003a). The spider family Theridiidae (Arachnida: Araneae) from Japan. Arachnological Society of Japan, 224 pp. download pdf -- Show included taxa

Yoshida, H. (2009b). Uloboridae, Theridiidae, Ctenidae. In: Ono, H. (ed.) The spiders of Japan with keys to the families and genera and illustrations of the species. Tokai University Press, Kanagawa, pp. 142-147, 356-393, 467-468. download pdf -- Show included taxa

Zumpt, F. (1968). Latrodectism in South Africa. South African Medical Journal 42: 385-390. download pdf -- Show included taxa

External Resource References

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As External Resources, the World Spider Catalog links here to species pages of other databases. They may contain further information for the given species. The databases, listed as External Resources, however, are not managed by World Spider Catalog and the information given there is not necessarily in agreement with the World Spider Catalog. All responsibility for such data is with the external database.

GBIF.org (2019). GBIF Home Page (via GBIF API). Available from: https://www.gbif.org [1 September 2019]

Nentwig, W., Blick, T., Bosmans, R., Gloor, D., Hänggi, A., Kropf, C.: Spiders of Europe. www.araneae.nmbe.ch. Version 05.2018. doi: 10.24436/1

Edit history
Date Type Reference Detail
2023-12-28 New taxonomic reference entry Abdel-Ghani, Hassan & Sallam, 2023 n/a
2023-02-10 New taxonomic reference entry Dippenaar-Schoeman et al., 2021z n/a
2023-01-26 New taxonomic reference entry Muslimin et al., 2015 n/a
2023-01-26 Species distribution update Muslimin et al., 2015 n/a (Old value)
2021-11-12 New taxonomic reference entry Cabrera-Espinosa & Valdez-Mondragón, 2021 n/a
2021-04-30 New taxonomic reference entry Sentenská et al., 2021 n/a
2021-04-28 New taxonomic reference entry Wang & Zhang, 2019 n/a
2021-04-28 Species distribution update Wang & Zhang, 2019 n/a (Old value)
2019-08-20 New taxonomic reference entry Cazanove, 2019 n/a
2017-11-15 New taxonomic reference entry Rozwałka, Dawidowicz & Wawer, 2017 n/a
2017-11-15 Species distribution update Rozwałka, Dawidowicz & Wawer, 2017 n/a (Old value)
2016-09-19 New taxonomic reference entry Brazil & Vellard, 1926 n/a
2016-02-05 New taxonomic reference entry Satam, 2015 n/a