I stumbled onto this deadly beauty while spraying weeds in my backyard. She was living in the housing for my inground swimming pool cover. Lucky for me, this is only the 3rd Black Widow (
Latrodectus mactans) spider I have ever found. Although rare, we do get these in Kansas. She is quite large, I would say maybe 1.5 inches in diameter. I'll try to snap some better photos after she warms up to her new environment.
And here, my prize, the Black Widow.
Isn't she lovely?...
And so deadly.
Her kiss is fifteen times as poisonous as that of the rattlesnake.
You see her venom is highly neurotoxic,
which is to say that it attacks
the central nervous system causing intense pain,
profuse sweating, difficulty in breathing,
loss of consciousness, violent
convulsions and, finally...
Death.
(lyric excerpt taken from Alice Cooper - The Black Widow)
