spider
Posted by Jamie Kelly on June 19, 2006
Q: clearing out the wood behind my home we found a black shiny spider with red spots on the back of it...never looked at the belly was a bit agressive so we left it be...the abdomen part of it was about the size of a marble. I live in cecil county maryland and was wondering if you could be of any help identifying it....sorry I have no pic.
Habitat: forest/open woods
State: Maryland
Habitat: forest/open woods
A: There are so many spiders with so many different colors and patterns that it is especially difficult to ID them without a photo or very detailed description. The Black Widow in the U.S. usually has an hourglass under the abdomen but this can and does vary a bit with some having red color on the top too. Black Widow females (males are much smaller) are about .5-.6" long and usually spins its web under objects.
An excellent book on spiders is the Golden Guide to Spiders and Their Kin and I think you can purchase this book from the Peterson Institute if you want. This is a paperback book full of good illustrations that can help you ID some of the more common spiders. Thanks for asking and I hope this helps a wee bit.
John Wiessinger ( June 20, 2006)