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Wisconsin man captures county's first confirmed black widow

By Ben Hooper
A Wisconsin man investigating a strange black object perched on a storage container turned out to have captured the first black widow spider ever confirmed in Brown County, Wis. Screenshot: WLUK-TV
A Wisconsin man investigating a strange black object perched on a storage container turned out to have captured the first black widow spider ever confirmed in Brown County, Wis. Screenshot: WLUK-TV

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June 15 (UPI) -- A Wisconsin man who spotted a black object on his property turned out to have made an unusual discovery -- the first black widow spider found in his county.

Shane Magle said he was letting his dog out after he returned to his New Franken home after work Monday when he noticed a small black spot on a res storage container.

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Magle went in for a closer look and discovered the object appeared to be a black widow spider, an animal he had never seen in his two years living in Brown County.

"I went and got a container and put it in a container so everyone would believe me that I actually found this thing," Magle told WLUK-TV.

Magle's girlfriend, Stephanie Lardo, snapped some photos of the spider and contacted Michael Draney, an entomologist and professor at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.

Draney confirmed the spider is an adult female northern black widow spider.

The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay said in a Facebook post the spider is the first confirmed black widow to be found in Brown County.

Draney said there has never been a documented black widow bite in Wisconsin. He said the spiders are known to bite only when squeezed, and will most often play dead when provoked.

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The professor said he was given the spider to preserve for posterity as the county's first-ever black widow.

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