North American Widow Spiders of the Latrodectus Curacaviensis Group (Araneae: Theridiidae)

a previous study of Latrodectus (Levi, I959). However, at the time it was known that there were several areas of difficulty: the Near East, where several species with similar genitalia occur; and northern Argentina, where one or two. additional species are found (Abalos, I962). Field and laboratory work in Curacao, Lesser Antilles, and in Florida, as well as additional specimens, have. provided many more data on the species called L. curacaviensis in the previous, paper. We wish to ’thank Drs. B. de Jong of Curacao and Dr. I. Kristensen of the Caribbean Marine Biological Institute, Cura;ao, for their hospitality and help in the field work on the island. We are also grateful to Dr. P. Wagenaar Hummelink, Dr. L. van der Hammen and Mr. P. J. van Helsdingen .of the Natural History Museum, Leiden, for specimens, collected in the Netherlands, Antilles. Dr. A. R. Brady photographed the’ Abbot manuscript with the help of the staff of the British Museum (Natural History), Mr. J. Beatty provided specimens from Florida, and Mr. P. Dell gave technical assistance. This investigation was supported in part by Public Health Service Research Grant AI-oI944 from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and Public Health Service. Research Grant C_v/i 112o6-ol from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences.