The brown widow Latrodectus geometricus is a cosmopolitan spider commonly found in buildings, gardens and lamp posts in northern Chile. Here we studied its diet composition and potential prey present in the same micro-habitat. We identified 63 prey items collected from its webs during the study, representing nine arthropod orders. The diet was variable but the spiders preyed mainly on beetles and woodlice, which represented more than 49.21 % of the total. Our results show that in Chile this spider has a polyphagous diet, and point to a positive and significant preference for Elateridae (Coleoptera), Curculionidae (Coleoptera) and Kalotermitidae (Isoptera) over other arthropods. We have also detected intra-guild predation with Chilean recluse spiders.
