Top View of brown widow spider, (Latrodectus geometricus.)
Brown-Widow Spider
SW FL - (Lee County) USA


The brown widow is suspected to have evolved in Africa although it was first described from South America, which adds confusion
as to where it might have originated. The Brown Widow Spider is a cosmopolitan tropical and subtropical spider having
established populations in Hawaii, Florida, some Caribbean Islands, parts of Australia, South Africa, Japan, and Cyprus.
In North America, the Brown Widow Spider was restricted for many decades to the Florida peninsula. However, around the year
2000, it started showing up in other Gulf Coast states. Brown widows are now known from Texas to Georgia and South Carolina
and with greater frequency in southern California.

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