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Wolf Spider with Egg sack
Lycosidae
17.6284, -63.2311
Field Notes
Description:
Wolf spiders are usually brown, grey, black or tan, with dark markings — most commonly stripes. Their coloring is effective camouflage, helping them catch their prey and keep safe from predators. They range from a quarter of an inch to over an inch (6.4 millimeters to 3 centimeters) long, with males typically smaller than females. They are robust and agile hunters with excellent eyesight. They live mostly in solitude and hunt alone, and do not spin webs. Some are opportunistic hunters pouncing upon prey as they find it or even chasing it over short distances. Some wait for passing prey in or near the mouth of a burrow.
Wolf spiders have a “distinctive eye arrangement, where the front or anterior row is composed of four small eyes of roughly the same size arranged in almost a straight row. The back or posterior row is arranged in a V-pattern with the apex next to the anterior row.” Wolf spiders have excellent night vision, and primarily hunt in the dark. They are also quite easily detected at night due to their eyeshine.
Habitat:
Our garden in Windwardside. At the foot of Mount Scenery, the volcano that makes Saba, in the Caribbean Sea, Dutch Caribbean.
Notes:
Wolf spiders are unique in the way that they carry their eggs. The egg sac, a round, silken globe, is attached to the spinnerets at the end of the abdomen, allowing the spider to carry her unborn young with her. The abdomen must be held in a raised position to keep the egg case from dragging on the ground. However, despite this handicap, they are still capable of hunting. Another aspect unique to wolf spiders is their method of care of young. Immediately after the spiderlings emerge from their protective silken case, they clamber up their mother's legs and crowd onto the dorsal side of her abdomen. The mother carries the spiderlings for several weeks before they are large enough to disperse and fend for themselves. If the female loses her egg sac, she will search for it. Females are known to be most aggressive when carrying their egg sacs. The baby spiders, migrate to new territories by the process of ballooning. (Spinning silk threads that catch a friendly breeze, carrying them away.) Male wolf spiders typically live for one year or less, while females can live for several years.No other spiders are currently known to carry their young on their backs for any period of time.
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