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Sticker of White-spotted false widow
Bug card No. 4774 of 4,939

White-spotted false widow

Steatoda albomaculata
Eats: Other bugs and small animalsSpidersGardens and meadows8 legsNot an insect, but a bug cousin

The white-spotted false widow is a spider with white spots. It belongs to the cobweb spiders, a family that builds messy, tangled webs. It lives in many parts of the world.

Fun fact: spiders are not insects. Insects have six legs, spiders have eight. Everyone calls them bugs anyway!
Lives in
North America, Europe, North Africa and Asia as far as Japan
Top speed
about 1.2 km/h (0.75 mph)
On foot, estimate
What does it eat?
Like other cobweb spiders, it catches small insects in its tangled web.
For real!Photo of White-spotted false widow
Picture by Hemm, V.. CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It lives across North America, Europe, North Africa and Asia, all the way to China, Korea and Japan.

2

Until 2024 scientists split it into two kinds. Now they count it as just one.

3

It is called a false widow because it is related to the black widow, but it is not one.

you asked

Most asked questions about White-spotted false widow

?Where does the white-spotted false widow live?

In North America, Europe, North Africa and much of Asia, as far as Japan.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Steatoda albomaculata
Group
Spiders
Family
Theridiidae
Classification
Arachnida > Araneae > Theridiidae
Lives on
North America, Europe, Africa, Asia

Where the facts come from

  1. Steatoda albomaculata (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Hemm, V.. CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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