Katipo - Description

Description

The katipo is a small to medium-sized spider. The mature female has a body size of about 8 millimetres (0.31 in) with a leg span of up to 32 millimetres (1.3 in). The red katipo female, found in the South Island and the lower North Island, has a large black globular abdomen, about the size of a garden pea, with slender legs and a white-bordered orange or red stripe on its back that runs from the uppermost surface of the abdomen back to the spinnerets. The dark velvet-black abdomen is described as satin or silky in appearance, rather than being shiny. The underside of the abdomen is black and has a red patch or partial red hourglass-shaped marking. It has mainly black legs with the extremities changing to brown. The black katipo female, found in the upper North Island, does not have a red stripe on the top of her body, and the abdominal colouration is usually lighter, but is otherwise very similar in appearance to the red katipo. The hourglass pattern on the underside of the abdomen may also be less distinct, losing the middle section, and may even be absent. Variations also exist whose abdomen, cephalothorax, or entire body is brown, sometimes with a dull red or yellow stripe, or cream-coloured spots on its upper side.

Adult males and juveniles are quite different in appearance to the female. They are smaller in size, being about one sixth the size of an adult female. Juveniles have a brown carapace, with a predominantly white abdomen which has a series of red-orange diamonds running along the dorsal region bordered on either side by irregular black lines. Males retain this coloration into adulthood. Due to its much smaller size, Urquhart (1886) believed the male to be a separate species and named it Theridion melanozantha. This was not rectified until 1933 when it was correctly identified as the male Latrodectus katipo.