Abstract
BackgroundThe brown widow spider (Latrodectus geometricus Koch, 1841) has colonised many parts of the world from its continent of origin, Africa. By at least 1841, the species had successfully established populations in South America and has more recently expanded its range to the southern states of North America. This highly adaptable spider has been far more successful in finding its niche around the world than its famous cousins, the black widow, Latrodectus mactans, found in the south-eastern states of North America, and the red-back, Latrodectus hasselti, found mostly in Australia, New Zealand and Japan.MethodsWe performed an extensive web search of brown widow sightings and mapped the location of each sighting using ArcGIS. Specimens reputedly of the species L. geometricus were collected at three localities in Peninsular Malaysia. The spiders were identified and documented based on an examination of morphological characteristics and DNA barcoding.ResultsThe spiders found in Peninsular Malaysia were confirmed to be Latrodectus geometricus based on their morphological characteristics and DNA barcodes. We recorded 354 sightings of the brown widow in 58 countries, including Peninsular Malaysia.ConclusionReports from the Americas and the Far East suggest a global-wide invasion of the brown widow spider. Herein we report the arrival of the brown widow spider in Peninsular Malaysia and provide notes on the identification of the species and its recently expanded range.
Highlights
The brown widow spider (Latrodectus geometricus Koch, 1841) has colonised many parts of the world from its continent of origin, Africa
This paper reports the arrival of the brown widow spider in Peninsular Malaysia and provides notes on the identification of the species and its global distribution
The spiders collected in Penang, Selangor and Johor were confirmed as L. geometricus based on an examination of morphological characteristics
Summary
The brown widow spider (Latrodectus geometricus Koch, 1841) has colonised many parts of the world from its continent of origin, Africa. By at least 1841, the species had successfully established populations in South America and has more recently expanded its range to the southern states of North America This highly adaptable spider has been far more successful in finding its niche around the world than its famous cousins, the black widow, Latrodectus mactans, found in the south-eastern states of North America, and the red-back, Latrodectus hasselti, found mostly in Australia, New Zealand and Japan. The widow spiders comprise 30 species in the genus Latrodectus Walckenaer, 1805 [1] They earned the name “widow” because the female eats the male after mating. This behavior has been only conclusively documented for one species, the red-back spider (L. hasselti Thorell, 1870) [2]. If the retreat is disturbed, the spider often jumps from its web to the ground, retracts its legs and plays dead, in a behavior known as thanatosis [9]
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