Latrodectus
| Latrodectus | |
|---|---|
| Female Latrodectus hesperus, or western black widow | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Araneae |
| Infraorder: | Araneomorphae |
| Family: | Theridiidae |
| Genus: | Latrodectus Walckenaer, 1805 |
| Type species | |
| L. tredecimguttatus (Rossi, 1790)
| |
| Species | |
|
35, see text | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Latrodectus is a broadly distributed genus of spiders informally called the widow spiders, with several species that are commonly known as the true widows. This group is composed of those often called black widow spiders, brown widow spiders, and similar spiders.