Spider Identification

Brown Recluse
(Loxosceles reclusa)

Key Identification Points

Top View Enlarged

The Fiddle

A spider is divided into two body parts, the cepholothorax which combines the head and thorax, and the abdomen. The key to identifying the brown recluse spider lies in recognizing the marks and eye patterns seen on the first section, the cephalothorax. The "violin" starts just below the spiders eyes as can be seen from the front view and the neck of the fiddle terminates just above the abdomen. The signature six-eyes in three groups can be seen from the head on view, though the left and right groups were slightly obscured, looking like one eye each respectively.

Six Eyes in a semi-circle

Note the arrangement and the number of eyes. There are three groups of two eyes in a semi-circle about the head which is certainly uncommon with spiders; Most have eight eyes.

Black Widow
(Latrodectus spp)

Key Identification Points

Dorsal View

Hourglass

As clearly illustrated above, not all black widow spiders are all black. This one, collected in East Texas, has a long, vertical red stripe running along it's dorsal(top) side of the abdomen. On the ventral (bottom) side is the classic "hourglass" shape that is the signature characteristic of widow spiders. On the lower right is another widow spider; she bears no other markings save for the hourglass.