Talk:Wolf spider

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[edit] Wrong Picture

Not a Wolf spider, but a jumping spider
Not a Wolf spider, but a jumping spider

The picture included (mistakenly) at the end of the "wolf spider" article is a jumping spider. You can tell very easily by the "squared-off" front end of the cephalo-thorax and the eye arrangement. Also, if you have the living specimen, you will note that she will happily jump from the table to your finger tip, from finger tip to finger tip, and that she will also scale sheer glass walls with complete security. Wolf spiders do no better on glass than human beings (except for Spiderman, of course) ;-)

[edit] Name

Is the spider a wolf spider, Wolf spider, or Wolf Spider? The page name indicates the last, and the text of the artilce indicates the first. -SCEhardT 04:36, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

A good point, which I've now dealt with. Capital letters are controversial when applied to individual species; for whole groups, they're definitely not used. --Stemonitis 14:43, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Size

How big is the wolf spider? There's no real way to tell from the images and no mention of size in the article

This is not official, but my friend currently has one in his room and claims that, including legs, its about the size of his hand. And as such he's scared to go near the window, which is where he saw it last...

There are several genera of wolf spiders and even more species. I'm not sure of the size of the smallest of them, but the largest member of the Lycosidae in the United States is called the "Carolina Wolf Spider." Although I am living in N. Carolina, I have not seen one yet. But the books say that the body of this species is approximately one inch long.

Wolf spiders do not climb well. They can't go up glass, for instance. So they are at risk if they climb up walls. One danger is falling and injuring themselves. Another danger is falling into something that they can't climb out of -- like my bathtub. So if your friend is finding something on the floor near the window it may well be a wolf spider. If it is hanging out on the wall near the window it may be something else. A photo posted here would help.

Anyway, tell your friend that wolf spiders are among the real scairdy cats of the spider world. They have good vision, so it would be hard to put your hand down on one accidentally because it would see you and then your hand approaching and it would run away as fast as it could. Jumping spiders can be kind of like the squirrels that run around the tree trunk when they see you approaching but then circle around to keep an eye on you, whereas wolf spiders are more like rabbits that run as soon as they see you have started to move on them.

I've purchased a couple of species of spider that are supposed to be "aggressive," but I have yet to find one that will actually approach my hand and try to bite. (I know there are tarantulas that are kept as pets that have bitten their handlers -- mostly when surprised close to their homes I think. But most of us do not have tarantulas living wild, and tarantulas don't frequent houses.) Tell you friend to just not grab his eight-legged friend and he'll probably be perfectly safe. (Of course if he lives somewhere near Sydney, Australia, all bets are off.)P0M 14:43, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

I don't think they're "scairdy cats". I found one in my home recently. Wasn't exactly aggressive, but it certainly wasn't scared. It approached us pretty fearlessly. They are very fast though. The one we found was roughly the size of my hand, legs included, but it does have very long legs. The easiest way to identify one is flash a light on their eyes, they're very reflective. 220.239.3.18 (talk) 04:35, 22 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Comparison

"After the eggs hatch, the multitude of tiny spiders climb onto their mother's abdomen, where she carries them for a considerable period of time, comparable to human relationships."

Is that last comment necessary?

I have cleaned that up, with a reference. It is not great yet, just better. (By the way, please sign your comments!) --Charles Gaudette 05:55, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Page features overlap

The scientific classification box is overlapping the additional photos. I'm using FF 1.0.7. Also I just woke up to two wolf spiders here on my porch in Santa Cruz, CA. One of them was at least an inch and a half in body length and probably 4-5 inches in "legspan."

[edit] Gallery

I think the gallery at the end is too big and cluttered, although these pictures could be useful for the article. maybe we could move it to the talk page and work these pictures one by one into a nice long article about wolf spiders? :) --Sarefo 01:40, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Distribution

Isn't it the map very false? I mean, no way at all those live here in Northern Europe atleast. We don't have any spiders that could attack humans.. Does anyone have a source for the distribution so that map can be redone?--Pudeo (Talk) 18:19, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

Where is anything said about wolf spiders attacking humans?
The spider from around the ancient Roman city of Tarentum which made everybody afraid in the Middle Ages is a rather large wolf spider, and it evidently convinced people that they could get bitten by it, but Fabre did not find it to be at all aggressive. Its venom is not problematical for humans. On the other hand, there are a few spiders in Europe that give a nasty bite. It's just that they are not wolf spiders and you have to grab one of them to get it to bite you, or corner it in your shoe with your big foot.
If you ever try to catch a wolf spider, no matter what kind it is, I think you will find that they are entirely concerned with one thing alone, and that is to get away from you.
You may not notice wolf spiders unless you look for them. If you want to find examples of European species, try this site:

http://www.xs4all.nl/~ednieuw/Spiders/spidhome.htm P0M 21:12, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

Perhaps, should I have said that there are no "poisonous" spiders then? Living in Finland, I have not encountered any of those big spiders or seen material that they exist here. The map says that they exist in the every country in the world, this can't be? Thus questioning it's relibiality. Perhaps some of these species can be found in the southern parts of the Northern World due to global warming, but I doubt these.. --Pudeo (Talk) 22:59, 15 June 2007 (UTC)
The largest member of the family found in the U.S. is around 2.5 cm. The smaller ones that I have seen are a couple of mm. long. (Just counting the body, not including the legs.) I seem to recall that the European tarantula (Lycosa tarantula) is almost that large. But the small ones are much more common around here. I didn't make the map, but it is consistent with what I know from other sources. It's sort of like mice, you can find them just about anywhere. But they are not all of the same species. There are several genera of wolf spiders and a very large number of species.
If you learn what they look like you will probably begin seeing them. Around here they are easiest to see in the early spring. As soon as it gets warm enough for flies and other insects to appear, a huge number of little wolf spiders come out of their winter hiding places and prowl around on the ground looking for something to eat. Since there is no grass growing at that time it is much easier to see them. They are in great danger of being stepped on by horses, cows, and smaller animals, so they keep a sharp watch for approaching creatures and they run very fast. I am fortunate to have 20/10 vision (good enough to be a jet fighter pilot), so maybe I can see them better than other people. Of course nobody else looks for them either.
When the evenings begin to turn cool in autumn I always find several large wolf spiders walking across my living room floor. They come through the cracks around the door to get into the warmer air. That kind is typically around 1 cm. long. Most of them are well camoflaged when they are outside, but they stand out against the lighter color of my wooden floor. But when I lived in Nebraska I don't recall them ever entering the house. Probably the difference was that the porch was farther off the ground than the one I have now.
If you Google "lycosidae Finland" you will find plenty of information, and at http://www.pbase.com/holopain/image/59817715 you will see a nice picture of one that resembles closely the kind that visit me in my home. P0M 03:20, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] What do they eat?

What do they eat?

Insects, I would imagine. Skogul 12:27, 19 August 2007 (UTC)
Do they eat crickets?  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.24.250.93 (talk) 18:05, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Toxicity?

I don't know much about spiders, but I do know that little toxicity section about wolf spiders being deadly and what-not isn't true. I don't want to edit it due to my lack of knowledge, but someone needs to. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 72.145.93.87 (talk) 22:01, August 21, 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Cleared up Info

 Wolf Spiders can grow (with legs) to be the size of your palm. I've seen some personally bigger than some tarantulas. In fact, I caught one in my office today about 1 1/4 inch long (without legs).  There's reports of some getting to be 2 Inches long in books and other articles.
 As far as toxicity, their bites are similar to a bee sting.  Little redness, swelling, no where near fatal by any stretch.  Wolf Spiders are oportunist hunters, anything that's smaller than them that they can sneak up on and kill they'll give it a try. You can handle them- I pet the one i caught bare-handed and named him Pete heh. They eat crickets, flies (if they can catch them), small geckos, and even young grass hoppers. Rule of thumb, don't play with spiders you don't what are, but wolf spiders are pretty tolerable of people, they just dont want to get squished, and will make every attempt to get out of your way and won't agressively defend anything- except some borrowing species... Any spider in a web is more likely to attack and bite when cornered than a free-roaming wolf spider- Just dont get some species of wolf spider mixed up with Brown Recluses- I live in texas some look strikingly similar in dim light(don't pet recluses, they're antisocial at best)
 The one thing i'm curious about is mating habbits and socialogy of wolf spiders. Are they all lone-wolfs? I'm going to catch a good 10 or so and put them in a cage and feed them all and see if they eat eachother- since they do eat smaller spiders as well...
 Disclaimer: I'm not a scientist or arachnid specialist by any means, but I have handled many spiders and actively engage Wolf Spiders in particular since they live everywhere- scares my little nieces good when you hold out your hands and 6 wolf spiders fly out crawling up your arms! :)

-Mike —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.155.40.172 (talk) 23:09, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Forgot one- Wolf Spiders carry their egg around with them. When the spiders have matured enough to hatch the egg gets torn open and the spiders pile up on the mother. She carries them for a couple weeks until they're grown enough to hunt on their own, then they scatter.

 They are primarily nocturnal. You can shine a light in their eyes and see the reflective disc- like a cat/dog and several other animals with the similar reflectant lens in their eyes.
 And on the note of looking like a recluse- if you find them wandering around, chances are it's not a recluse due to the fact that recluses, like their name states, are very shy arachnids and prefer small dark places- shoes, cracks in walls, cinderblocks, irrigation valve boxes- caught black widows a month back- my damn technicians killed em 'cuase they were scared of widows...sissies.
 But don't be afraid of wolf spiders in any circumstance, I dare you to gently pick on up, or scoot it onto your hand. They'll usually sit right on it (like the warmth?) otherwise will run up your arm and hide in a crease of your sleeve...

-Mike —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.155.40.172 (talk) 23:18, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Comparative Scale

I wonder if someone could perhaps draw up the size of this spider in comparison to say a human hand. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.177.12.104 (talk) 02:56, 25 February 2008 (UTC)