Theridiidae  Sundevall, 1833 / Latrodectus  Walckenaer, 1805   9 species

Latrodectus tredecimguttatus  (Rossi, 1790)

Description
Male

Colouration as in female, but opisthosomal blotches whitish.

Body length male: 4-7 mm
Female

Vulva: spermathecae contiguous. Prosoma black, glossy, slightly longer than wide. Prosoma 3.0-5.2 mm long. Legs black, glossy. Opisthosoma black, dorsally with 3 longitudinal series of red blotches, sometimes these blotches are absent and the opisthosoma is entirely black, ventrally with a red blotch behind epigastric furrow, opisthosoma covered with both long hairs and short bifid hairs.

Body length female: 7-15 mm
Additional information

In dry habitats, dunes, sandy beaches, shingle beaches and on low vegetation.

This species can bite humans, as also all other Latrodectus species in the world. Often, a bite causes significant effects, with severe and long-lasting pain in two-thirds of cases, preventing patients from sleeping in one-third of cases. Pain increases in more than half of the cases within the first hour and mostly radiates into the limbs or abdominal pain develops. Typical symptoms include sweating in about 70% of cases and further systemic effects in 20-30% of cases (nausea and vomiting in less than 20%, raised temperature and neuromuscular effects in about 10%, hypertension in less than 10% of cases). Pain usually lasts 1–2 days and the other symptoms 1–4 days. In Europe, bites have become very rare in the last decades. If needed, a symptomatic medical treatment is recommended.

Distribution
  Presence
  Not established
  No data
Global distribution (WSC 2024): Mediterranean, Ukraine, Caucasus, Russia (Europe to South Siberia), Kazakhstan, Middle East, Iran, Central Asia, China
Phenology
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
 male  female
Figures
Distribution List

"No references" does not mean that the species does not occur in this country, but that we have not yet inserted the reference for it. We are working on it.

Albania   (Kůrka et al., 2020; Vrenozi, 2022) ||| Algeria   (Benhacene et al., 2023) ||| Armenia   (Otto, 2022; Zarikian et al., 2023a) ||| Azerbaijan   (Otto, 2022) ||| Bosnia and Herzegovina   (Komnenov, 2010) ||| Bulgaria   (Blagoev et al., 2018) ||| Croatia   (Milosevic, 2002) ||| Cyprus   (Bosmans et al., 2019c) ||| Egypt   (Bosmans, unpubl.) ||| France   (Le Peru, 2007) ||| France / Corsica   (Le Peru, 2007) ||| Georgia   (Otto, 2022) ||| Greece   (no references) ||| Greece / Crete   (no references) ||| Italy   (Pantini & Isaia, 2019) ||| Italy / Sardinia   (Pantini & Isaia, 2019) ||| Italy / Sicily   (Pantini & Isaia, 2019) ||| Libya   (Bosmans, unpubl.) ||| Moldova   (Vasiliev & Mikhailov, 2023) ||| Montenegro   (Naumova et al., 2019a) ||| Morocco   (Bosmans, unpubl.) ||| Netherlands   (Noordijk, 2023) ||| North Macedonia   (Komnenov, 2014) ||| Portugal   (Branco et al., 2019) ||| Romania   (no references) ||| Russia, Eastern   (no references) ||| Russia, Southern   (Otto, 2022; Ponomarev, 2022) ||| Serbia   (no references) ||| Spain   (Branco et al., 2019) ||| Tunisia   (Bosmans, unpubl.) ||| Turkey (Asia)   (Danışman et al., 2024a) ||| Turkey (Europe)   (Danışman et al., 2024a) ||| Ukraine   (Polchaninova & Prokopenko, 2019) |||
References

Benhacene R, Adjami A, Hadjeb A, Kermiche K, Ouakid M L (2023) Bibliographic checklist of the Algerian spider fauna (Araneae). Zootaxa 5352: 301-357 pdf

Blagoev G, Deltshev C, Lazarov S, Naumova M (2018) The spiders (Araneae) of Bulgaria. Version: August 2018. National Museum of Natural History, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Online at http://www.nmnhs.com/spiders-bulgaria/ (accessed on 10.9.2018) pdf

Bosmans R, Van Keer J, Russell-Smith A, Hadjiconstantis M, Komnenov M, Bosselaers J, Huber S, McCowan D, Snazell R, Decae A, Zoumides C, Kielhorn K-H, Oger P (2019c) Spiders of Cyprus (Araneae). A catalogue of all currently known species from Cyprus. Newsletter of the Belgian Arachnological Society 34, Suppl. 1: 1-173 pdf

Bosmans R. (unpubl.) Provisional list of spiders of North Africa. Database excerpt Aug. 2019

Branco V V, Morano E, Cardoso P (2019) An update to the Iberian spider checklist (Araneae). Zootaxa 4614: 201-254 pdf

Brignoli P M (1967c) Notizie sui Theridiidae del Lazio (Araneae). Fragmenta Entomologica 4: 177-197 pdf

Brignoli P M (1984b) Ragni di Grecia XII. Nuovi dati su varie famiglie (Araneae). Revue Suisse de Zoologie 91: 281-321 pdf

Danışman T, Kunt K B, Özkütük R S, Coşar İ (2024a) The checklist of the spiders of Turkey. Version 2024 [last updated 01 January 2024], online at http://www.spidersofturkey.info pdf

Isbister G K, White J (2004) Clinical consequences of spider bites: recent advances in our understanding. Toxicon 43: 477-492 pdf

Komnenov M (2010) Checklist of spiders (Araneae) of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Uzizaž i Biospeld 5(2009): 52-69 pdf

Komnenov M (2014) Spider fauna of the Osogovo Mt. Range, Northeastern Macedonia. Fauna Balkana 2: 1-267 pdf

Kůrka A, Naumova M, Indzhov S, Deltshev C (2020) New faunistic and taxonomic data on the spider fauna of Albania (Arachnida: Araneae). Arachnologische Mitteilungen 59: 8-21 pdf

Le Peru B (2007) Catalogue et répartition des araignées de France. Revue Arachnologique 16: 1-468 pdf

Levy G (1998b) Araneae: Theridiidae. In Fauna Palaestina, Arachnida III. Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Jerusalem. , 228 pp. pdf

Milosevic B (2002) Aranea – Popis vrsta – Checklist. Hrvatsko entomološko društvo – Inventar entomofaune Hrvatske [Aranea – List of species – Checklist. Croatian Entomological Society – Inventory of Croatian entomofauna]. pdf

Naumova M, Lazarov S, Deltshev C (2019a) Faunistic diversity of the spiders in Montenegro (Arachnida: Araneae). Ecologica Montenegrina 22: 50-89 pdf

Nentwig W, Gnädinger M, Fuchs J, Ceschi A (2013) A two year study of verified spider bites in Switzerland and a review of the European spider bite literature. Toxicon 73: 104-110 pdf

Noordijk J (2023) Een Europese zwarte weduwe Latrodectus tredecimguttatus lift met een caravan mee naar Nederland (Araneae: Theridiidae) [An European black widow Latrodectus tredecimguttatus hitches a ride with a caravan to the Netherlands (Araneae: Theridiidae). Nederlandse Faunistische Mededelingen 60: 107-109 pdf

Otto S (2022) Caucasian spiders. A faunistic database on the spiders of the Caucasus Ecoregion. Database version 02.2022. Internet: caucasus-spiders.info.

Pantini P, Isaia M (2019) Araneae.it: the online catalog of Italian spiders, with addenda on other arachnid orders occurring in Italy (Arachnida: Araneae, Opiliones, Palpigradi, Pseudoscorpionida, Scorpiones, Solifugae). Fragmenta Entomologica 51: 127-152 pdf

Polchaninova N, Prokopenko E (2019) An updated checklist of spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) of Left-Bank Ukraine. Arachnologische Mitteilungen 57: 60-64 & App pdf

Ponomarev A V (2022) Spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) of the southeast of the Russian Plain: catalogue, the fauna specific features. SSC RAS Publishers, Rostov-on-Don, 640 pp. pdf

Souri, A. M., Shafaie, S., Moradmand, M. & Mirshamsi, O (2024) The spider genus Latrodectus Walckenaer, 1805 (Araneae, Theridiidae) in Iran with the first record of Latrodectus revivensis Shulov, 1948. Journal of Insect Biodiversity and Systematics 10: 99-109 pdf

Vasiliev A I, Mikhailov K G (2023) Annotated checklist of spiders (Araneae) of the Republic of Moldova. Invertebrate Zoology 20: 307-342 pdf

Vrenozi B (2022) Venomous spiders of Albania – does an increase of temperature influence the toxicity of spider venom? Toxicon X 15 (100135): 1-8 pdf

WSC (2024) World Spider Catalog. Version 25.0. Natural History Museum Bern, online at http://wsc.nmbe.ch (22.01.2024) doi: 10.24436/2 pdf

Zarikian N, Dilbaryan K, Khachatryan A, Harutyunova L (2023a) Species composition and diversity of spider (Arachnida: Araneae) in the northern forests of Armenia. Biodiversity 24: 66-75 pdf

Updates
08-05-2024 Distribution update Detail
03-02-2024 Image insert
14-08-2023 Distribution insert Detail
02-06-2023 Distribution update Detail
13-05-2023 Distribution update Detail
29-01-2021 Distribution insert Detail
27-10-2020 Gallery image insert
08-06-2020 Distribution update Detail
29-04-2020 Distribution insert Detail
04-02-2020 Datasheet update Detail
01-12-2013 Distribution update Detail
26-11-2013 Datasheet update Detail
04-06-2013 Image insert
30-04-2013 Image insert
01-04-2013 Image insert