New Record of Two Species of Black Widow Spider in Mosul City (Iraq)

Two species of black widow spiders were recorded for the first time in Mosul city during the summer of 2012 and 2013. The spiders were the red back widow spider (Latrodectus hasselti ) and a southern black widow spider (Latrodectus mactans). The first one is Australian while the second is American. These spiders weren't present in the Iraqi environment before the American occupation to Iraq but they may be introduced accidentally to Iraq with commodities, equipments and containers that occupation forces brought with them to Iraq.
These spiders are poisonous and dangerous to humans due to their neurotoxic poison which failure many physiological activities in the body and sometimes causing death if the currency processes took place quickly and giving the patient the specific antivenoms of these spiders.