More Urban Species: Striped Wolf Spider

[urbpan]

Striped wolf spider Gladicosa sp. (probably)

Wolf Spiders are generally fairly large spiders that don't spin webs to trap their prey. They are familiar to many people in the southern United States as household animals, usually an unwelcome appearance. Of course, like all but about three types of spiders in North America, wolf spiders do not have a harmful bite. But this individual had a leg span of an inch and a half or so (3cm) and was the largest spider I'd seen in quite some time. I can understand why a wolf spider in one's home might inspire nervousness.

At first I was sure that this was an Agelena spider, strayed from his web. The pattern on the body is about right, and some Agelenas are fairly large. But when I examined the pattern of eyes in the second photo, and compared it in my spider book, it was not a match. Instead the relatively large forward facing eyes, in two rows of four, identify it as a Lycosid. The closest match using other field marks, notably the stripes and the orange-tan color, is the Genus Gladicosa, or striped wolf spider, a group relatively recently reclassified from the type Genus Lycosa.



Striped wolf spiders are nocturnal beasts that roam through leaf litter in oak forests looking for insect prey. Just outside the door where these photos were taken, is the great artificial oak forest of Franklin Park in Boston, covered with a thick blanket of snow. This spider probably found paltry hunting out there, and moved toward the building, with it's year-round warmth and year round source of delicious crickets, cockroaches, woodlice, and earwigs. When I found him (his large palps and skinny abdomen suggest he is a male) he had fallen on hard times. He was sluggish, and after some handling began to curl his legs toward his underside in the classic spider death pose. Hopefully his offspring are out there in the warmth of decomposing leaves, snug in an egg-case the female is carrying.

Comments

[shellasaurusrex.livejournal.com]

i hate spiders. i hate spiders so much that i saw this picture shrieked and jumped off my chair. now i am back to ask you to never do this to me again. thanks :)

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Sorry, spider pictures are part of the Urban Pantheist package.

[elizaeffect.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was once sitting on the couch when my cat alerted me to an enormous wolf spider crawling down the wall behind my head. I think I actually teleported to the other side of the room. Knowing they're harmless and eat vermin does absolutely nothing for arachnophobia. (And after it dropped behind the couch, I never found it again - cue difficulty sleeping for the next week.)

Cool pictures, once I got over the spike of primal terror. Thanks.

[morgi.livejournal.com]

We have wolf spiders of some sort here in Indiana (and apparently black widows and brown recluses... awesome :P ), and saw a bunch in a corn maze we went through a couple of years ago. (Apparently they feed on the giant Indiana crickets because they were huge.) Spiders kind of freak me out, but they're neat from a safe distance.

[shellynoir.livejournal.com]

Heh, my first thought on seeing the photo was, "Oh, no, it's DYING!"

[bosoxmom.livejournal.com]

My first thought was "cool..he has a smiley face on his head!"

When we first moved into our NW house 19 yrs. ago..some kind of spider bit my hubby and it got infected, etc. I dread the fall when they all have their webs all over where I want to walk, and I hate when they are in my shower, bathroom or right in front of me doing their acrobatic moves, but they are one of my favorite critters...but I have to watch out in the woodpiles for those shiny black mf'ers..that supposedly live out here...I never looked it up to see if it's true, but if I see those guys, I give em wide berth!!

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Yup, Portland has the Western black widow Lactrodectus hesperus http://bugguide.net/node/view/26346

I don't know how common they are, but once I get out there, I'll make it my business to find out!

Spiders

[(Anonymous)]

I have seen many black, shiny spiders here, but only 1 with any red on it. It immediately became extinct as it was close to my house. I have an acre of land and I figure there is plenty of room for all of the critters and bugs, but when they are too close, they get chased away or become extinct.I have had weird spiders in my house and most of them get kicked out into the cold...not so with the black shiny ones. If they are in the house, they are toast.

I have a wood pile. I have not seen many black and shiny critters near my pile, but my neighbor, who has his on the ground, says he sees them a lot in his piles. I usually wear gloves when I am working under the carport near my woodpile. As he is an emergency room nurse, I think he probably does too. We supposedly also have the brown recluse out here too, but unless they are in my house, we do not bother the brown ones at all and they don't bother us.

I think our zoo has an exhibit of spiders..or had one. Thanks for all the spider info on the famous spider!!

We once had a cascade of baby spiders sliding down from the ceiling. They were very very small and they seemed to be little paratroopers, but instead of parachuting down from the sky, they slid down their silk en masse from the ceiling....cool and creepy at the same time. They are fascinating.

Re: Spiders

[bosoxmom.livejournal.com]

oops. I suddenly became anonymous...that was just me, not having my coffee yet.

[aemiis-zoo.livejournal.com]

The wolf spiders we have down here look different.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

I bet they are the size of your hand, down there in Florida.

[aemiis-zoo.livejournal.com]

Hahaha! Not quite that big! Well, maybe the size of the palm of your hand (minus the fingers)...They look like this. (image stolen from Wikipedia)

I guess they look similar but not exactly the same (imo).

[aemiis-zoo.livejournal.com]

Holy crap! Sorry that image is so HUGE.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

No worries, it's not too big.

The main differences are due to sex. Your picture shows a female with her plump abdomen. The important features--leg orientation, eye patter--match well enough to say both are wolf spiders.

[aemiis-zoo.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I kinda thought, they really do look the same after I made that comment, but for some reason I was unable to edit it (maybe because of the picture?).

[shadefell.livejournal.com]

Southern United States? I grew up in/around Chicago and we had those in our basement all the time.

[bellelvsbeast.livejournal.com]

These pictures are wonderful...I love them...spiders are just so cool, I plan to get me one soon...;)
We had a wolfy in our squadroom the other day and I was the only one who didn't want to kill it...:P

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

It blows my mind how there are animal people (in your case animal protection officers, at my work veterinarians,vet techs, and zookeepers) who hate spiders.

[bellelvsbeast.livejournal.com]

I know! The irony kills me! :P

[grace-batmonkey.livejournal.com]

You just made me cry for a spider. I also hope his little ones are out there, toasty and waiting for their spring feast.

[bunrab.livejournal.com]

Oh, when I lived in Austin I used to LOVE watching the wolf spiders. We had one living in the master bathroom who was a fearsome hunter!

spider identification

[(Anonymous)]

Hi! I'm a graduate student at Olemiss, researching how spiders are affected by forest restoration practices. I stumbled across your blog, and I must say, I am very impressed with your identifications/knowledge of spiders! This little guy, however, is Pisaurina mira, a nursery web spider. They certainly do resemble wolf spiders! I'm very happy to see that you have an interest in arachnids and nature in general...that is something that is unfortunately lacking in most people.

~ Jason R.

Re: spider identification

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Okay, Jason, I trust your identification, but can you tell me where I went wrong? What distinguishes a nursery web spider from a wolf spider?