The black widow spider (Latrodectus mactans) is so named because she occasionally attacks her partner after mating and eats him. However, this is the exception rather than the rule as she is not normally aggressive, even to humans. But when cornered the black widow will bite, injecting highly toxic venom and leaving a characteristic double puncture wound. The venom is 15 times more potent than that of a rattlesnake but the amount injected is usually too small to be fatal. Interestingly, one of the symptoms following the bite is painful rigidity of the abdominal wall leading to a misdiagnosis of appendicitis, which has been known to result in death from unnecessary surgery rather than from the bite itself.
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