424075

Morpho-Molecular Identification of Female Black Widow, Latrodectus tredecimguttatus (Rossi, 1790) Inhabiting Olive Orchard at Menoufia Governorate, Egypt

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Last updated: 04 May 2025

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Abstract

The Mediterranean widow spider, or "Dolmak," Latrodectus tredecimguttatus (Rossi, 1790), family Theridiidae, is one of the medically significant spiders. Also, it is listed as a dangerous animal due to its extensive geographic range and its deadly or seriously problematic toxic bites. A holistic understanding of L. tredecimguttatus requires combining knowledge derived from both morphological and molecular investigations. Thus, this study aimed to offer researchers a framework for investigating these essential species and to educate farms and visitors about the importance of avoiding any behaviour that could antagonize the spiders. For this study, specimens of L. tredecimguttatus were manually collected randomly from some olive orchards between September 2023 and August 2024 at Sadat City, Menoufia Governorate, Egypt. The morphological parameters utilized for identification were the total body length, carapace width, abdomen length, and (1st,3rd, and 4th legs) length. Results indicated that the total length of females ranged from 8.92 to 10.15mm. The female dorsal pattern if present; consists of several orange spots (usually in young females). Adult females lack the dorsal pattern and ventral hourglass reduced to two transverse oranges to red Markings. The results of the mitochondrial CO1 gene confirm that our tested species identified as Latrodectus tredecimguttatus under the accession number (PQ358290.1) in GenBank for the first time in Menoufia Governorate, Egypt. So, the identification of a female Black Widow according to morphological and molecular genetic methods is of great importance. 

DOI

10.21608/eajbsz.2025.424075

Keywords

Spiders, Theridiidae, Latrodectus tredecimguttatus, Morpho-Molecular, CO1 Gene

Authors

First Name

Gehad

Last Name

Aboulnasr

MiddleName

N.

Affiliation

Zoology and Entomology Department, Faculty of Science, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt.

Email

gehad.mousa@science.aun.edu.eg

City

Assiut

Orcid

0009-0006-8911-4793

First Name

Amr

Last Name

El-Gendy

MiddleName

A.

Affiliation

Department of Agricultural Zoology and Nematology, Faculty of Agriculture, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt.

Email

amr.abdrabou@azhar.edu.eg

City

Cairo

Orcid

0000-0002-3182-2870

First Name

Sara

Last Name

Mousa

MiddleName

E.

Affiliation

Protection Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt.

Email

sara_mohamed1@agr.aun.edu.eg

City

Assiut

Orcid

0000-0002-7722-3670

Volume

17

Article Issue

1

Related Issue

52817

Issue Date

2025-06-01

Receive Date

2025-03-19

Publish Date

2025-04-27

Page Start

242

Page End

250

Print ISSN

2090-0759

Online ISSN

2090-0821

Link

https://eajbsz.journals.ekb.eg/article_424075.html

Detail API

http://journals.ekb.eg?_action=service&article_code=424075

Order

424,075

Type

Original Article

Type Code

672

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

Egyptian Academic Journal of Biological Sciences, B. Zoology

Publication Link

https://eajbsz.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

Morpho-Molecular Identification of Female Black Widow, Latrodectus tredecimguttatus (Rossi, 1790) Inhabiting Olive Orchard at Menoufia Governorate, Egypt

Details

Type

Article

Created At

27 Apr 2025