Thursday is yard work day, when we fill two green bins with oak leaves and offcuts, chipping away at the accumulation that’s been filling the carport. As I shovelled the leaves into the bin, lots of fat false widow spiders crawled out of the mulch, including this seven-legged mama.

Steatoda nobilis is native to Madeira and the Canary Islands from where it is thought to have spread to Europe, and continued to spread to other parts of the world including the United States, Chile and Colombia. It is now regarded as one of the most invasive spider species globally. It is considered moderately medically significant, with most bites causing symptoms comparable to those of a bee or wasp sting.