When Lisa unlocked her door to help her husband inside she was greeted with the lovely lady below. How do I, an office monkey with meager biological training, know it's a wolf spider? Because I've been posting on uglies for nearly four years now.
I can tell by the fact that she's carrying her egg sac (that silken orb) by her spinnerets, which behavior is unique to wolf spiders. In just a short while the spiderlings inside will burst forth and commit another behavior unique to wolf spiders: the bearing of the young on the mother's back.
There are many varieties of wolf spiders, and they're found pretty much everywhere. If you're reading this blog, you're almost guaranteed to have one lurking nearby. That being said, not all wolf spiders are equal. Some are large, some are small. Some are avid hunters, some simply lie in wait.
I am aware on at least a weekly basis of the fact that I live in a part of the world (the Sacramento Valley) that doesn't boast of any local spider species that get any larger than a quarter. That fact is one of my chief blessings in life. Some of you might be able to disprove that fact, in case I'm wrong. And if I am wrong, I am very, very happy in my ignorance and misinformation. I don't need to know otherwise.
Thanks for the photo, Lisa. You'll have a whole little wolf spider pack lurking about your house next year.
Oct 28, 2009
Mama Got Sac
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6 comments:
I used to live in an apartment where wolf spiders the size of your palm used to visit. The big ones would always have gray bodies and black legs. They were so big that when they ran along the kitchen counter, they actually produced audible footsteps.
Just hearing that story freaks me out. Sheesh.
OMG, Anon, the same happened to me in an apartment we used to live in. It was in a foresty area and INFESTED with all kinds of spiders. In our bathroom, we had a long black carpet. I walked the length of it to the sink, turn around to go back out and there was a huge HUGE grey wolf spider (like you said, about the size of your palm).
I am a complete arachnophobe (never go near them in pet stores, I get goosebumps and shake). My husband said I screamed really loud and he found me trying to curl up in the corner of the wall.
We only lived there a year but had to move. There were various spiders, huge crickets that jumped on your face in the middle of the night and our front door was infested with hundreds of daddy-long-legs.
To me, that was the apartment from hell, but a spider enthusiast's dream.
RW - that's just NASTY. Seriously.
OMG!!! I have ones that are just a bit larger than a quarter and that is big enough for me. Although I don't have a phobia about them, I do love when the dog catches them and plays with them until they are no more. She loves to chase them around and then pounce on them!
I found a spider that I think is a Wolf Spider but the Sac was brown I was told it was a hiloramandous flat tail spider how can I find out?
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