Wolf Spider?

Photo by Neil Gillies

Neil found this handsome spider in his kitchen in Baker, WV, last week.  Among the 2000 wolf spider species in the Lycosidae family, I guessed that it was among the Genus Hogna (maybe H. aspersa or H. carolinensis).

Wolf spiders are distributed nearly worldwide (except for the poles).  They are hunting spiders, and their behaviors range from waiting to stalking to actually chasing their prey.  Although they can bite, many find them favorable because they prey upon many less desirable insects and arachnids.

Among the distinguishing features of wolf spiders is that they carry their eggs, and that two of their eyes are much larger than the others, and those eyes actually reflect light!

Photo by  Opoterser on Wikimedia Commons.

In trying to identify this spider I was surprised by how much variety there is among individuals in this Genus Hogna, and I realized that wolf spiders may be a great species to demonstrate variation due to geographic isolation.