Black shiny spider in Northern KY

[srae8997]

My husband found this spider hiding out near the lawnmower the other day. Can anyone identify it? We are in Northern KY - just outside of Cincinnati, OH. Any help would be appreciated!



Srae8997

[poochpamperer]

The red markings on it seems to remind me of a Black Widow, but I may be wrong...

[srae8997]

I didn't see the belly of it, but I thought that black widows typically had the 'hourglass' shape on the underside. That was the first thing I thought of too when I saw it. I am not by any stretch a spider enthusiast though, so perhaps I am wrong on that.

Thank you for your response

[poochpamperer]

I didn't see the belly of it, but I thought that black widows typically had the 'hourglass' shape on the underside.

True, But black widow is the closest I could seem to find to that red on the glossy black...

[srae8997]

Well, I have found through another web search that it is a Black Widow. The reason there are red dots on it's back instead of a red hourglass on it's belly is because accoring to a post on bugguide.net

"In case you were wondering, or for anyone finding your image and wondering, the red markings are on top when widow spiders are immature. These markings can vary with the age of the spider. When the female spider becomes mature, she then gets the hourglass markings underneath her abdomen."

"For the Northern Black Widow, the hourglass is distinct, but is broken(1) (whereas the Southern Black Widow's hourglass is complete) and typically there is a row of red spots down the middle of the back and possibly some diagonal whitish bands on each side; the bands are typically observed on the younger, more juvenile widows"

Case closed.