I found a spider in my garage today, and thought it might be a black widow, but it didn't look quite right (no red marking on the abdomen, the abdomen seems small, and the legs are brown with black markings).
It turns out that I am used to seeing L. hesperus, and that this particular spider is likely L geometricus, an invasive species of brown widow that is displacing the native spiders in my region.
The more you know.(tm)
(I'm going to go kill it with poison, now, as I don't want venomous spiders in my house.)
Hrm... on the other hand, they don't deliver as much venom as the native species, so maybe I'll let it live.