Blackarachnia was the first and only female Predacon in the Beast Wars.  Her pod, originally Maximal, landed on Earth but it was Tarantulas who got to her first.  He chose her beast mode (a black widow spider) in the hopes she would be his mate.  His hopes were never fulfilled as Blackarachnia was her own spider, smart and sneaky.  She always had her own agendas and she used her feminine appeals to con her teammates (and enemies!) into doing things for her. 

 

Blackarachnia was both a scientist and an agile fighter.  After Dinobot stole the golden disks, she downloaded Megatron's back-up data tracks before destroying them.  In the episode 'Tangled Web', she had her first encounter with the noble Maximal Silverbolt, who fell in love with her.  At first, she used his obsession with her to get things from the Maximals, but in time, she too fell in love with the fuzor.

 

In the third season, after a climatic battle when Megatron tried to destroy the Autobots, she realized her own future was in jeopardy as long as Megatron was around.  So she joined the Maximals and after a failed attempt to go transmetal resulted in her life being threatened, she underwent an operation of sorts to become truly Maximal.  The operation was not completed as a Predacon attack disrupted it and the 'safety' devices Tarantulas had installed in her should the Maximals attempt to reprogram her destroyed her core.  However, the alien device which she had rescued earlier in the season and which had caused Cheetor to go transmetal 2, was nearby her body and it altered her form and restored her. 

 

Blackarachnia lasted right until the end of the series and left with the Maximals as a Transmetal.  She would continue to fight alongside of them in Beast Machines.