Latrodectus Walckenaer 1805
Creators: name: Wright, B. M. O. G.
name: Wright, C. D.
name: Sole, C. L.
name: Lyle, R.
name: Tippett, R.
name: Sholto-Douglas, C.
name: Verburgt, L.
name: Engelbrecht, I.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2019
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Theridiidae
Latrodectus

description: Key to the southern African species of the genus Latrodectus (adapted from Lotz 1994)
1 Females ............................................................................................. 2 - Males.............................................................................................. 8 2 Spermathecae parallel, abdomen with red or orange-red marking on ventrum...................................... 3 - Spermathecae in a V-formation, abdomen without red or orange-red hourglass marking on ventrum.................... 5 3 Ventral marking is orange-red and hour glass shaped......................................................... 4 - Ventral marking is red and an irregular oblong shape......................................... L. umbukwane n. sp. 4 Spermathecal ducts with 3 loops.............................................................. L. geometricus - Spermathecal ducts with 5 loops.............................................................. L. rhodesiensis
5 Abdomen with red T-shaped marking on dorsum.................................................. L. karrooensis
- Abdomen without red T-shaped marking on dorsum.......................................................... 6
6 Spermathecal ducts with 4 loops.............................................................. L. renivulvatus
- Spermathecal ducts with 3 loops......................................................................... 7
7 Carapace width less than 3.8 mm .................................................................. L. cinctus
- Carapace width more than 3.8 mm .............................................................. L. indistinctus
8 Embolus with 5 loops....................................................................... L. rhodesiensis
- Embolus with 4 or less loops............................................................................ 9
9 Embolus with 4 loops................................................................................. 10
- Embolus with 3 loops................................................................................. 12
10 No light transverse areas on abdomen and an oblong yellow-white ventral marking caudally and white oblong near book lungs, abdomen brown with light yellow-white oblong blotches dorsally and laterally outlined in darker brown, no transverse light areas (young mature male), or abdomen dark brown with darker indistinct irregular circles dorsally and ventrally (old mature male)............................................................................... L. umbukwane n. sp.
- Abdomen dorsally with light transverse areas on dark background.............................................. 11
11 Abdomen dorsally with broken light transverse areas on a darker background........................... L. geometricus
- Abdomen dorsally with continuous light transverse areas on a dark background......................... L. renivulvatus
12 Abdomen dark with dorsally an orange-red T-shaped marking........................................ L. karrooensis
- Dorsal abdominal pattern without T-shaped marking........................................................ 13
13 Abdomen with broken light dorsal transverse areas connected with indistinct light areas, anterior light transverse area continuous.......................................................................................... L. cinctus
- Broken light dorsal transverse areas unconnected.................................................. L. indistinctus
description: Published as part of Wright, B. M. O. G., Wright, C. D., Sole, C. L., Lyle, R., Tippett, R., Sholto-Douglas, C., Verburgt, L. & Engelbrecht, I., 2019, A new forest dwelling button spider from South Africa (Araneae, Theridiidae, Latrodectus), pp. 584-600 in Zootaxa 4700 (4) on pages 597-598, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4700.4.12, http://zenodo.org/record/3557552