Please ID.

[Mamba no 5]

I Found this whilst on my nightly route around the garden (looking for stuff like this).
We have plenty of Brown Button spiders and at first I thought this was one as well, but upon closer inspection I saw that It was n glossy black and not a dark brown, also it feigned death when I tried to capture it.

Sorry for Photo quality but I Could only use my phone camera and I don't want to risk taking what might be the most venomous spider in SA out of it's jar And it can climb almost any surface with ease.



p.s I Tried uploading the pic directly but it says no attackements larger than 200Kib???

[insaniac]

Black button spider (Latrodectus indistinctus)...?

[Nzyme]

Black Widow

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latrodectus

[Mamba no 5]

I Assumed as much, just need to be certain.

[wadekilian]

I'm with Nzyme, the hour-glass shape is a dead giveaway.

Where are you from? I didn't know these occured in SA.

[Mamba no 5]

Potchefstroom, And I have Lapa just crawling with these guys attached to my House.

[Kev]

According to my field guide that is a brown or house button spider (L. geometricus)

I took this straight from “ Southern African Spiders “ by Martin R. Filmer

Latrodectus indistinctus. These are black mediums sized spiders, most having some form of orange-red marking or markings on the dorsal side of the abdomen, although this is absent in some adult females.
They never have any red markings on the ventral side of the abdomen.(The American L.mactans has an hour-glass marking ventrally). They are sedentary and are usually found in the field; they are not common in populated areas. The black button spider is one of the most dangerous spiders in Southern Africa, having a neurotoxic poison [sic]. The brown or house button spider L. geometricus, and the Rhodesian Button Spider L. rhodesiensis are the button spiders in Southern Africa that show the characteristic hour glass pattern on the ventral side of the abdomen. Both these spiders may vary in colour from light yellowish brown with geometric patterns on the dorsal side of the abdomen to pitch black.

[Mamba no 5]

That's why I posted it on SA Reptiles, my field guide says It should be a Brown Button as well, but there are a few things that make me wonder... First of There also a few Brown Buttons that I have observed in the yard, and this one is different, and lack some of the abdominal markings that a Brown Button has (those two lighter splotches). Now that I have looked again, it might a False Button spider?

[Serpent]

Common black button spider, very common and often found in homes and garages.

[cascade]

Black widow is pure black with the hour glass.

The brown widow has brown leg segments with the hour glass.
I have a picture of a brown widow some where on my PC will upload for you, just need to find it first.

[Ceratogyrus]

1000000000% Brown button spider (L.geometricus)
In South Africa our black button spider has no hourglass marking and just has a red dot or stripe on the top of the abdomen close to the spinnerets. The American black widow has the hourglass marking.
Our brown button spiders have the hourglass marking underneath.
Seen as you are from SA, that is definately a brown button spider.
Don't be thrown off by colour. I have seen brown button spiders from white to brown to black, so that's not an accurate way of identifying.
My guess is you would probably see a few spiky round egg cases close by the nests too, which would also point you to brown button spiders, as well as the fact that they were found in a lapa (Black button spiders tend to be found in veld areas and not often close to houses).
So in conclusion, its a brown button spider.

[Mamba no 5]

Black-phase Brown button it is, it's quite a relief...