How to identify a false widow spider?

The false widow spider which is causing quite a stir in the UK because of some horror stories involving victims almost losing limbs after bites is actually kind of difficult to identify.

How to tell if it's a false widow

The general advice is to check out it's abdomen.

Commonly, it will be creamy-brown in color, and have pretty distinctive markings. The abdomen will also be "bulbous" and fairly large compared to the rest of the body.

Here are some examples:

However, these markings may be less distinct in females AND there are 7 different types of false widow living in the UK - which is why Julian Carter, a conservation officer, with National Museum Wales makes this claim:

"the spiders can only be positively identified by looking at their sex organs."

So there you have it! If you want to know whether a spider is definitely a false widow, flip it onto its back and look for an epigyne (arachnid genitals) that look like this: