The hourglass is not always as clear as pictures would have you believe. Once you get to know the body shape, true widows pretty distinctive among spiders aroun

The hourglass is not always as clear as pictures would have you believe. Once you get to know the body shape, true widows pretty distinctive among spiders around here. (The false widow to me isn't a real lookalike because of the leg shape, but there are other bulbous dark spiders.) The distinction I see most commonly here is the leg banding. True black widows almost always have solid, glossy black legs, without any coloration along them along them. Brown widows do seem to have a lot of difference in coloration along the abdomen, but sometimes look rather plain with abdomens more like some other species, which is why I'd look to the leg colors and body shape as well. I'd welcome advice from an actual arachnologist on this, though!