Beauty of Latrodectus

[mactans]

I thought I would create a thread dedicated to random images of strikingly beautiful individual representives of the Latrodectus genus and had found two today while scouring the net. Hope you enjoy...

Latrodectus curacaviensis from Bahia, Brazil. (http://tolweb.org/tree?group=Orbicularia&contgroup=Entelegynae)

Latrodectus hasselti and an undescribed spider possibly Latrodectus too amongst other Theridiidae (comb-footed spiders) photos (http://www.xs4all.nl/~ednieuw/australian/theridiidae/Theridiidae.html)

[carpe scorpio]

Wow, those are beautiful, I should have my brother in Australia send me some pics of "red-backs".

[mactans]

Ain't they beauties? Love em. Me wants them. Me must have them. *insert lame Gollum voiceover here* :D

I will be contributing more random pics to the thread, once I sort through my bookmarks and I am constantly finding new material on the net too.

[alex]

I want them aswell, beuatiful species.

[mactans]

I am hoping more foreign Latrodectus species are introduced into the hobby (such as these examples). Any such good tidings please me well.

[boxy]

Ah, red-backs... why didn't you say so? ;)

Here's a shot that I took

http://www.sheepmania.com/nat/insect/Arachnida/Arenae/redback_02_12_30s.jpg (http://www.sheepmania.com/nat/insect/Arachnida/Arenae/redback_02_12_30b.jpg)
Click for larger version.

From here (http://www.sheepmania.com/nat/insect/Arachnida/Arenae/redback_02_12_30.html).

Apparently red-backs, although an Australian icon, are now thought to have been introduced when Europeans first arrived, or shortly beforehand.

[mactans]

Wicked, what a treasure, love the close of the cephalothorax, well detailed shot with a nice matte black effect. One of the best pics I've seen yet. Do you keep these awesome arachnids as pets?

I have a nice webpage on L.hasselti I will be posting here soon, some fascinating facts and developments.

[boxy]

Nope, unlike you guys, I don't keep inverts as pets (well not for ages anyway), just find them around the place and photograph them. I haven't heard of anyone that does keep red-backs, they're just too common I guess. They'd be pretty good pets too no doubt, not aggresive, although they are venomous, and live just about anywhere where it's dry and hidden.