Does a male Black Widow have the Red Markings?

Question

We live in the southeastern United Sates, and we were on my parents porch when we found a black spider...it looked like a black widow minus the red markings...is that a male black widow or just some other type of spider

Answer 1

I don't think so.

their web is a dead give away, though.  It is very disorganized, mor just like a jumble of lines, without any serious order.

you see a small shiny black spider in a web like that, and it's probably a BW,

Answer 2

The adult male doesn't look like the mature female but more like a juvenile:

http://www.biosurvey.ou.edu/okwild/misc/...

Answer 3

Probably some other type of spider.

/Steatoda grossa/ is commonly known as the "false black widow" because it looks almost exactly like a widow, except without the markings.  Also, male black widows would not be easily recognized as a black widow because they are much smaller and their abdomen is more pill shaped than round bulb shaped like the females.  This difference between the genders is typical of the cobweb family of spiders.

But to answer your original question, yes males can have the mark.

Answer 4

The male black widow is considerably smaller than the female, and is brownish in color with no red hour glass marking on its underside.