In the early afternoon, I helped my brother fill two huge trash bins with piles and piles of leaves that had fallen off the mulberry tree in the backyard. When I moved the “green waste” bins, I found they were both infested with black widows, including the all-black Western Black Widow (Latrodectus hesperus) and several of the more colorful Southern Black Widows (Latrodectus mactans) with their mottled abdomens.  So we had to be careful not to get bit or to bother them too much. We managed to clean up all of the leaves… at least for now. The tree is still shedding more…

In this photo you can see the spider’s old skin sitting in front of it, like a tiny “face-hugger” alien…