Black widow
Appearance
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/99/Wiktionary-logo-en-v2.svg/40px-Wiktionary-logo-en-v2.svg.png)
Look up black widow or black widows in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Black widow may refer to:
Spiders
[edit]- Black widow spider, a common name for some species of spiders in the genus Latrodectus
American species
[edit]- Latrodectus apicalis, the Galapagos black widow
- Latrodectus curacaviensis, the South American black widow
- Latrodectus hesperus, the western black widow
- Latrodectus mactans, the southern black widow
- Latrodectus variolus, the northern black widow
Eurasian species
[edit]- Latrodectus tredecimguttatus, the Mediterranean black widow or European black widow
Oceanian species
[edit]- Latrodectus hasseltii, the redback spider or Australian black widow
People
[edit]Murderers
[edit]- Black Widows of Liverpool, two women hanged for murder in 1884
- Belle Gunness, 25–40 victims spanning from 1884 to 1908
- Vera Renczi (1903–1960), murdered 35 men, including her husband and her son
- Betty Neumar (1931–2011), dubbed "Black Widow" or "Black Widow Granny", accused of murdering one of her husbands
- Blanche Taylor Moore (born 1933), convicted murderer
- Griselda Blanco (1943–2012), Colombian drug trafficker, known for ordering or committing the murders of three ex-husbands
- Catherine Nevin (1950–2018), responsible for the 1996 murder of her husband in the pub they owned
- Stacey Castor (1967–2016), convicted murderer
- Lynn Turner (murderer) (1968–2010), convicted murderer
- Black Widow Murders, murders committed in 1999 / 2005 by two elderly women in Los Angeles
- Áurea Vázquez-Rijos, Puerto Rican women who hired a hitman to murder her ex-husband Adam Anhang in 2005 and was convicted in 2018
- Melissa Ann Shepard (born 1935), Canadian murderer
- Patrizia Reggiani (born 1948), ex-wife of Maurizio Gucci, convicted of arranging his murder
- Chisako Kakehi (born 1946), Japanese serial killer; as of August 2023[update], awaiting execution for three murders
- Lyda Southard (1892–1958), American serial killer of husbands and other family members using arsenic from flypaper
- Esneda Ruiz Cataño (born 1968), Colombian serial killer of husbands for life insurance benefits from 2001-2010; is currently in El Pedregal Prison
Athletes
[edit]- Jeanette Lee (pool player) (born 1971), so-called because of her fondness for wearing black
- Sonya Thomas (born 1967), top-ranked competitive eater
Other
[edit]- Florentine Rost van Tonningen (1914–2007), Dutch neo-Nazi nicknamed Zwarte weduwe (Black Widow)
Arts and entertainment
[edit]Fictional characters
[edit]- Black Widow (Marvel Comics), the name of several distinct characters:
- In the Marvel Cinematic Universe:
- The Black Widow, a Batman villain played by Tallulah Bankhead
- Black Widow, a character from the Saturday Night Slam Masters series of games by Capcom
- Natasha Kerensky, in Tales of the Black Widow Company, a supplement for the BattleTech video game
Film and television
[edit]- The Black Widow (serial), a 1947 movie serial starring Bruce Edwards
- Black Widow (1951 film), a British film starring Christine Norden
- Black Widow (1954 film), starring Ginger Rogers and Gene Tierney
- Black Widow (1987 film), featuring Debra Winger and Theresa Russell
- Black Widow (2003 film), a film directed by Brad Turner
- The Black Widow (2005 film), DVD release title of film by Giada Colagrande, produced as Before It Had a Name
- Black Widow (2005 film), a Canadian film starring Sarah Slean
- "The Black Widow", an episode of Boston Legal
- Black Widow (2007 film), with Elizabeth Berkley and Alicia Coppola
- Black Widow (2010 film), starring Jack Scalia and Jennifer O'Dell
- Black Widows (2016 TV series), Scandinavian TV serial
- Black Widows (Indian TV series), a 2020 web series
- Black Widow (2021 film), a film starring Scarlett Johansson based on the Marvel Comics character
- Black Widow: A Land Bleeds, a 2017 Indian film
Literature
[edit]- The Black Widow (Silva novel), 2016 novel by Daniel Silva
- Black Widow: A Novel, a 1981 novel by Christina Crawford
Gaming
[edit]- Black Widow (video game), a 1982 Atari arcade game
- Black Widow Games, a computer games developer
Music
[edit]- Black Widow (opera), by Thomas Pasatieri
- Black Widow (band), a British rock band
- Black Widow (Black Widow album), 1971
- Black Widow (Lalo Schifrin album), 1976
- Black Widow (In This Moment album), 2014
- The Black Widow (album)
- Black Widow Records, an Italian label
Songs
[edit]- "Black Widow" (Iggy Azalea song), 2014
- "Black Widow" (Pristin song), 2017
- "Black Widow", by Black Tide on the album Light from Above
- "Black Widow", by Mötley Crüe on the compilation Red, White & Crüe
- "Black Widow", by Children of Bodom on the album Hatebreeder
- "Black Widow", by U.D.O. on the album Animal House
- "Black Widow", by Dolores O'Riordan on the album Are You Listening?
- "Black Widow", by Donovan Leitch on the album Slow Down World
- "Black Widow", by In This Moment on the album Black Widow
- "Black Widow", by Lita Ford on the album Dangerous Curves
- "Black Widow", by Michelle Shocked on the album Short Sharp Shocked
- "Black Widow", by Alice Cooper on the album Welcome to My Nightmare
- "Black Widow", by Jefferson Starship on the album Winds of Change
- "Black Widow", by Booty Luv
- "Black Widow", by Link Wray and His Ray Men, B-side to "Jack the Ripper"
- "Black Widow", by Cage the Elephant on the album Melophobia
- "Black Widow", by Susanne Sundfør on the album The Brothel
- "Black Widow Pt. 2", by RZA featuring ODB on the album Digital Bullet
- "Black Widows", by Grave Digger on the album The Last Supper
Rides
[edit]- Black Widow (ride), an amusement ride at Kennywood
- Black Widow, a roller coaster at Six Flags New England
Military
[edit]- Northrop P-61 Black Widow, a World War II night fighter
- Black Widow II, a Northrop YF-23[broken anchor] prototype fighter aircraft, nicknamed after the P-61
- PMN mine, nicknamed Black Widow because of their dark casing
- Soviet submarine B-39, nicknamed Black Widow after having been sold off as a museum ship
- 421st Fighter Squadron, nicknamed Black Widows
Other plants and animals
[edit]- Black tetra, also known as "black widow tetra", a freshwater fish
- Stygnobrotula latebricola, an ocean fish
- Geranium phaeum, a herbaceous plant species
Other uses
[edit]- The Black Widow Pulsar
- Black Widow (paint mix), paint mix for projection screen
- Black Widow (Chechnya), term for female suicide bombers from Chechnya or Dagestan
- DHD(J), also called Black Widow, a subgroup of the militant Dimasa organization Dima Halim Daoga of Assam, India