Latrodectus ?mactans

Quarantine officials in Samoa intercepted a black spider with a red spot on its abdomen with many whitish brown offspring.

Although there was no photo, members thought that is was likely to be a black widow spider, (Latrodectus mactans) or a related species of Latrodectus (such as the Australian redback). There are many images on the Internet. The small spiderlings will not have the same colour as the adults. The black widow does have a poisonous (though rarely fatal) bite.

There is information on the redback spider, Latrodectus hasselti, at:

http://www.amonline.net.au/factSheets/redback.htm
http://www.csiro.au/csiro/content/standard/ps1rv,,.html
http://www.qm.qld.gov.au/features/spiders/spiders/RedbackSpider.asp

See also, Marples BJ (1955a) Spiders from Western Samoa. J. Linn. Soc. Lond. (Zool.) 42: 453-504.