A Black Widow spider is seen through a basement window of a home in Arvada, Colorado on Saturday, August 13, 2022. (Photo by Patrick Traylor/The Denver Post) ...

Black widow spiders, distinguished by their shiny black bodies and red hourglass markings, are one of the most venomous spiders in North America. However, their bite is rarely fatal to humans.

Black widows are vanishing from certain regions of the U.S. Scientists found that a competitor, the brown widow, may largely be to blame for the iconic arachnid's decline.

Brown widow spiders, which are invasive to North America, are wiping out black widow populations in the U.S. by aggressively attacking them for no clear reason, a new study shows.

Of these, 45 showed in-vitro neutralization of the black widow spider’s alpha-latrotoxin neurotoxin. According to the study, one antibody called MRU44-4-A1, showed particularly high neutralization.