Another species of widow spider is the northern black widow. It is found in the same areas as the black widow (the warmer regions of the U.S., along the eastern seaboard to Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas). However, the northern widow is also found in the northern part of the United States and in Canada. This species is more common in the northern United States, as the name implies, but these spiders can sometimes be carried by travelers or shipments to areas where they are less common.
The female northern black widow is also blackish in color and bears the red hourglass marking on its abdomen. The two triangular shapes that make up the hourglass figure are generally not touching. The spot nearest the rear, or posterior, end of the spider is more triangular in shape and the other spot is more rounded. The back, or dorsal, side of this spider has a row of red spots and sometimes diagonal white lines out to the sides as well. Some northern black widows are more brownish in color, have whitish/yellow hourglass markings and red legs.
This species of spider is rarely found indoors, but may sometimes get carried in, such as on firewood, for example. Outdoors, they prefer sparse vegetation, firewood, stumps, hollow logs, and the like.