I found a spider the other day which was roughly the size of a penny
with a large, round, shiny abdomen. It looked like it had the pattern of
a skull on its abdomen. It was jet black like patent leather. I live
in southeast michigan. What kind of spider could it be? At first, I
thought it was a black widow, but there was no red hourglass. I am
highly curious because I never saw one before. Please offer some links
to pages that might list spiders like this one. Thanks!

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Request for Question Clarification by pinkfreud-ga on 30 May 2005 15:27 PDT

Does this look like your spider? Ignore the reddish color; this type
of spider can be black,

http://iibce.edu.uy/difusion/grossa.jpg

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Request for Question Clarification by czh-ga on 31 May 2005 00:56 PDT

Check out the photos on this site and see if your spider is identified here.

http://www.spiderzrule.com/spiderphotos.htm

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Clarification of Question by thejenn-ga on 31 May 2005 08:09 PDT

It isn't the spider in pinkfreud's link. I checked out the othe site
and looked through all the pictures. I did not see it. I am trying to
identify it from memory, so that makes it harder. It has the abdomen
and leg arrangement of a black widow, but I didn't see the under
belly, just the top. Any additional links to sites with several photos
would be great. Especially sites with Michigan spiders. Thanks!

could it be a male black widow, coz (i'm not 100% sure) i think only
the females have the hourglass

You should try checking out http://www.whatsthatbug.com/ - you can ask
them the same question you asked here, and often they will be able to
identify your spider just on the description.

Of course, a picture is worth a thousand words - if you had a picture
(a good one), you'd get an ID much quicker.

brady173