Draney says black widow is rarely seen

The black widow spider is native to Wisconsin but rarely seen, said UW-Green Bay professor Michael Draney. “I’ve been collecting spiders pretty widely since 1999. I’ve collected thousands and thousands of spider specimens, but I’ve never myself collected a northern widow in Wisconsin,” Draney said. Usually, when black widows are found in Wisconsin, they come in on produce trucks from places like California. Those are western widows, not the northern widow native to Wisconsin, Draney said. This is one of many media interviews for Draney, Chair of UW-Green Bay’s Natural and Applied Sciences program. Wisconsin Public Radio has the latest interview.