Surf Wiki
Save to docs
general/latrodectus

From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

Latrodectus rhodesiensis

Species of spider

Summary

Species of spider

Latrodectus rhodesiensis is a species of spider in the family Theridiidae, found in southern Africa. It is one of six species of Latrodectus found in southern Africa, two of which, including L. rhodesiensis, are known as brown button or brown widow spiders.

Distribution

Latrodectus rhodesiensis is found in Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and South Africa.

In South Africa, the species has been recorded from the provinces Free State, Gauteng, Limpopo, and Western Cape. Notable locations include Roodeplaatdam Nature Reserve and Stellenbosch.

Habitat and ecology

This species lives in a web constructed low in vegetation similar to Latrodectus geometricus. The egg sac of L. rhodesiensis differs from that of other African species. It is smooth, spherical, and dirty white in colour, pure white when first constructed. The smooth egg sac consists of an inner pear-shaped thin-walled sac approximately half the diameter of the complete structure, surrounded by a layer of fluffy threads.

Latrodectus rhodesiensis inhabits areas at altitudes from 982 to 1651 m above sea level. The species has been sampled from the Grassland and Savanna biomes.

Venom

Like all Latrodectus species, L. rhodesiensis has a neurotoxic venom. It acts on nerve endings, causing the very unpleasant symptoms of latrodectism when humans are bitten, although brown button spiders are not generally as venomous as black button or black widow spiders, such as L. indistinctus.

Description

Latrodectus rhodesiensis 120963733.jpg|egg sacs Latrodectus rhodesiensis 310129642 559695808.jpg|male

Conservation

Latrodectus rhodesiensis is listed as Least Concern by the South African National Biodiversity Institute due to its wide geographical range. The species is protected in Roodeplaatdam Nature Reserve.

Taxonomy

The species was revised by Lotz in 1994.

References

References

  1. "Latrodectus rhodesiensis Mackay, 1973". World Spider Catalog.
  2. (2021). "The Theridiidae of South Africa. Part 1 A-P". South African National Survey of Arachnida Photo Identification Guide.
  3. Lotz, L.N.. (1994). "Revision of the genus Latrodectus (Araneae: Theridiidae) in Africa". Navorsinge van die Nasionale Museum Bloemfontein.
  4. Mackay, I.R.. (1973). "A new species of widow spider (genus Latrodectus) from southern Africa (Araneae: Theridiidae)". Psyche: A Journal of Entomology.
  5. (19 September 2012). "Spider bite in southern Africa: diagnosis and management".
Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

latrodectus spiders-of-africa spiders-described-in-1972
Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about Latrodectus rhodesiensis — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report