WILD WEDNESDAY: B.C.’s notorious black widow spider

A small spider with a notorious image is featured in this week’s WildSafeBC video.

Each week, the organization releases a video about the various animal and insect species in BC. This week, the black widow takes the focus.

The arachnid, found in the southern part of B.C., is known to have a shiny black body and a small red hourglass shape on its underside. Males are about half the size of females and don’t have the hourglass markings.

According to WildSafeBC, females lay about 300 eggs at a time and watch over them for a month-long incubation period.

Although it has a painful bite, it is rarely fatal and the spiders usually don’t bite humans unless it's in self defence.

The fast-moving spiders often live under things like rocks or pieces of wood and it’s recommended to wear gloves if moving such items.

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