Are the diffrent color black widows

Question

I've found a symbol found on a black widow that was on this black spider it was very small. black was its main color and the symbol was a tan color it had four to three white stripes on its back brown and black legs sections I found it in my garbage lid

Answer 1

There are several related species of spider (including the "brown widow"), that, yes, are differently colored.

But I suspect the spider you saw was a male black widow.  They're smaller than the gals, and more interested in traveling.

Answer 2

If it looked like this:

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=h...

It was a male black widow. If not, it may have been a young black widow or a "false widow spider" (http://images.google.com/images?um=1&hl=...

There are different color widows. I learend today that in addition to the black widow, there are also a brown (or gray) widow, a red widow, and a northern widow spider, along with some other, less-common types.  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Widow_spide... and http://hobospider.org/widows.html)