Carolina Wolf Spider Size. The Carolina wolf spider has a unique appearance. Their huge population, particularly in the state of Carolina, is well documented by their hunting methods. Because of a third-grader named Skyler B., they became the official spider of Carolina. Hutto!
They have a brown color with a black underside and belong to the Lycosidae family. Males have fine silver to slate-grey hair on their sides and a orange coloration on their body. They’re the biggest spider in North America, and they’re wolves!
Wolf spiders
The Lycosidae family (from Ancient Greek λύκος (lúkos) ‘wolf’) includes wolf spiders. They have excellent eyesight and are tough and agile hunters. They hunt alone and do not spin webs, and they live mostly in isolation.
Some are opportunistic predators, hunting down prey as they discover it or pursuing it over short distances at the mouth of a burrow; others wait for passing prey.
Wolf spiders carry their egg sacs on their spinnerets, whereas Pisauridae carry theirs with their chelicerae and pedipalps, hence they resemble nursery web spiders (family Pisauridae).
The nursery web spiders, whose eyes are all of roughly equal size, are distinguished from the wolf spider by their two large and prominent eyes. It can also help distinguish them from grass spiders that look a lot like them.
The wolf spider, which looks frightening and is ominously named, is actually a beneficial bug. The family Lycosidae (derived from the Greek word lycos, which means wolf) contains the spiders that belong to the class Arachnida. Wolf spiders do not weave webs or use silk to capture prey, like wolves do.
With eight eyes arranged in three rows, the first row having three small eyes, the second having two big eyes, and the third having two medium-sized eyes, they are swift-moving, aggressive ground predators with superb eye sight.
They are mostly active at night and hunt for insects. They’re more likely to be discovered hiding in ground tunnels, amid pieces of firewood or debris, in open areas like farm fields and grassy settings.
With body sizes ranging from less than one millimeter to 30 millimeters (.04 to 1.2 inches), there are more than 2000 wolf spider species.
Natural pest management is provided by wolf spiders. The biggest of the wolf spiders is the Carolina Wolf Spider (Hogna carolinensis). It has black stripes on a brown background. Its body is over a inch long, with a total length of 4 inches from legs to legs.
The undersides of female wolf spiders are solid black, whereas males have a more muted color. Because of their similarities in appearance to tarantulas, wolf spiders are frequently misidentified.
They don’t howl at night, hunt in packs, or viciously bite people because they’re called wolf spiders. Instead of using webs to subdue their prey, these spiders are known as wolf spiders since they pursue and run them down.
They may be seen in abundance around homes, mulch, woods, leaf litter, and other places and are particularly good at hunting down cockroaches and other household pests. If you don’t have to, don’t kill it. They are assisting you with pest control and charge a fraction of the price of most exterminators. Remember that spiders help to keep insect populations in check and are beneficial to our ecosystem.
Go outdoors with a flashlight and shine it along the ground, particularly in wooded areas, with the beam right next to your eyes. It’s a fun thing to do! Little blue-green twinkling spots of light may be seen reflecting the light. A little (or, on occasion, not so little) wolf spider may be seen if you approach it. You’ve been spider sniffing for a while now!
Carolina Wolf Spider
The Carolina wolf spider, which may be found from Virginia to Texas, is most prevalent throughout the continental United States. It’s the biggest wolf spider in the United States. The male adult may grow to be an inch or more in length, while the female may grow to be an inch or more.
Wolf spiders are ground predators that pounce on insects, inject venom, and consume their victims instead of catching prey in webs. The mottled browns and grays of wolves help them blend in with the leaves on the forest floor, giving them camouflage.
When approached or frightened, the state spider will bite. Its bite, like a bee sting, is not necessarily deadly. A burrow dug by the female may be five to eight inches deep and last for several hours.
She is a devoted mother; she carries her egg sac (a pea-sized silk ball) in her fangs until the eggs hatch. For a period, she walks with her newly formed spiderlings on her back. They start looking at each other as prey and then scatter to survive when the egg yolk on which they depend is gone.
Source: https://www.scencyclopedia.org/
The Carolina Wolf Spider, Hogna carolinensis, belongs to the genus Hogna and is part of the Lycosidae family of spiders. contributing members have seen Hogna carolinensis spiders 32 times.
Hogna carolinensis has a geographic range that includes one country and thirteen states in the United States, according to statistics gathered. During the month of June, Hogna carolinensis is most commonly seen outdoors.
Identifying the Carolina Wolf Spider
The Carolina Wolf Spider is one of the biggest of the 2,200+ different species of wolf spiders found throughout the world, and it’s also known as the Big Carolina Wolf Spider.
This 3- to 4-inch terrestrial spider may be found all over the United States. It has eight eyes arranged in three rows and is found throughout southern Canada, as are other wolf spiders. Four little eyes are found in the bottom row, two huge eyes in the middle row, and two normal-sized eyes in the top row.
Since their eyes shine bright, you may use them to locate them at night. A flashlight held at eye level, directing light back from their eyes directly into yours, is a fantastic way of locating them.
The body is gray-brown, with a dark stripe down the middle on the abdomen, long hairy legs, and eight enormous uneven eyes.
They have a dull look and their coloring typically matches with the environment, since they rely on camouflage for defense.
Since they resemble dangerous spiders, wolf spiders are often killed because people mistake them for brown recluses. It’s easy to distinguish between the two after a little practice.
For starters, it isn’t a brown recluse if the spider you see has a body that is longer than half an inch.
Source; https://spideridentifications.com/
Appearance
The Carolina wolf spider (Hogna carolinensis) is the state spider of South Carolina. The biggest wolf spider in North America is thought to be this one. It’s also one of the world’s biggest wolf spiders.
The Carolina wolf spider has eight legs and eight eyes, as do other wolf spiders. In comparison to the other three pairs of legs, the fourth pair is longer.
The wolf spider’s eyes are smallest at the bottom of the face and largest at the top, with additional eyes placed above them. Brown recluses are frequently mistaken with these spiders.
Male and female Carolina wolf spiders have distinct physical characteristics, indicating that they are sexually dimorphic. The body length of a wolf spider is usually about 2.5 cm.
Gray and black specimens are most common, and colored bands down the belly are also probable.
Physical Description
The North American wolf spider, the Carolina wolf spider, is the biggest. Adults may grow to 22–35 mm, while adults may grow to 18–20 mm.
Their undersides are a darker black, and the males can have orange coloration on the sides of their abdomen. They are overall light brown in color, but they have darker brown patterning on their backs[5].
There are a few identifying features to the Carolina wolf spider. A male Carolina wolf spider with orange coloring is easy to identify[4].
During incubation, females carry the egg sac with them, allowing them to be identified in the dark during the breeding season[6] and allowing their eyes to reflect light.
The ventral side of the body is typically solid black, while the eight legs are likewise usually black underneath. The body is covered with fine slate-grey to silver hair, while the dorsal side of the body is black to brownish-black. The fangs are bright orange in color, which may be a warning to predators (or enemies).
They are poor climbers and prefer to hide beneath rocks or holes and build burrows in the ground rather than sewing hanging webs. They are often seen at floor level.
How big do Carolina wolf spiders get?
The Carolina wolf spider is bigger than the rest, with sizes ranging from 1 to 30 millimeters, or 0.04 to 1.2 inches.
These huge spiders may reach a length of over 1.5 inches and a width of over 12 inches. Females are bigger and hairier than male wolf spiders, making them easier to mistake with tarantulas.
The Carolina Wolf Spider is North America’s largest wolf spider
Unlike other spiders, the Carolina Wolf Spider is a accomplished hunter rather than a trapper. It does not wait for prey to get caught up in a complex web before striking them; it seeks them out. Carolina Wolf Spiders are nocturnal and are usually spotted by humans at night, despite the fact that they may be seen during the day.
Brown and black bodies conceal them well on woodlands floors, but on sandy soils near beaches, they are more noticeable. They are adaptable to a wide range of environments and may occasionally be seen indoors hunting for prey.
This hairy spider is big and fast. The eyes give the head a little elevation. A tan line runs down the middle of the cephalothorax. The cephalothorax has a lighter brown border on both sides, and the sides are dark brown or black. An almond-shaped abdomen appears.
A black almond-shaped mark near the waist and a chevron pattern toward the rear are present on the top of the abdomen. Females are generally darker and bigger than males. After mating, a female will dig a roughly 200 mm (8″) deep hole in the earth.
She covers the entrance with plant waste and lines it with spider silk. Her eggs are deposited here and wrapped in a silk sac.
Until the spiderlings hatch, she will carry this egg sac on her back wherever she goes. Wolf spider moms carry all of their little spiderlings on their bellies, which is not uncommon.
Where can Carolina wolf spiders be found?
Carolina wolf spiders, like most wolf spiders, don’t create webs, according to the text. Instead, like flies and other tiny insects, they race to capture their prey. While they go out at night to look for their next meal, they utilize their claws to burrow inside leaves and around the earth.
Just remember that these Carolina wolf spiders are mostly averse to humans when you’re nervous of them. To keep themselves safe from the cold weather, they may nevertheless reside in areas inside your house, such as the garage, basement, or an seldom utilized closet.
Despite this, they may live in a variety of environments and adapt to changing temperatures thanks to their capacity to adjust their bodily temperature according to the weather. thankfully, these gigantic spiders are harmless, as they play an important role in the ecosystem.
How Poisonous is the South Carolina Wolf Spider Bite
Wolf spiders avoid humans and anything larger than themselves by keeping a distance of at least two meters. Unless they feel threatened or trapped, they are not aggressive and do not bite humans.
They have enormous fangs, are venomous, and their venom is not particularly harmful to humans. It has no important medical consequences. Their bite, like that of a bee or wasp, is likewise uncomfortable.
Some more facts about Carolina wolf spiders:
-They are wolf spiders that are generally considered to be the biggest. That one measured about 1.25 inches in total length (excluding legs).
-They live in burrows that they dig, and they’re poor climbers, so they’re frequently discovered on the ground.
-They don’t normally bite unless they’re poked or otherwise irritated. Since they were stuffing their hand down what they thought was a tarantula hole in the desert (not a great idea), Bills has only met one person who had been bitten by one. If they inject venom, their bites might make you sick, or they may just feel like a painful bee sting.
-Their egg sacs contain 100-150 eggs.
Here’s how to be a spider sniffer:
FIRST, do something. Shine a beam of light out in front of you with a regular flashlight held to your forehead (kinda like a lighthouse).
2. Shine the light into mulch or leaf litter at the base of trees, as well as along the margins of flooded areas.
3. Twinkling lights of blue green may be seen. When you gaze down the light and pursue the light spot, you’ll see them.
4. Follow the beam and walk up to the twinkling lights when you see the twinkling eyes, viola! A spider has been spotted! Spider sniffer, you’ve done a fantastic job! The spiders you see are all wolf spiders, and some of them are relatively tiny.
You may occasionally observe one with Volkswagen headlights, which are enormous! Don’t pick up these scary spiders because they’re huge, hairy, and may bite you if handled.
Otherwise, they pose no danger to us and help keep our cricket population under control. They aid in this by keeping our beetle, bug, and even Palmetto bug populations in check.
Take a cup and place it over the spider, then slowly slide a stiff paper or cardboard beneath the cup before picking up the cup and cardboard and safely transporting the spider to the outdoors if you acquire one of these huge spiders in your home.
Preventing and Getting Rid of Wolf Spiders in North Carolina
To prevent them from entering your home, you want to make sure there are no food sources around or places for them to come in. Just because they’re harmless doesn’t mean you want them in your home. We suggest the following:
-To avoid standing or pooling water, remove gutters and clean them out; this attracts other insects.
Remove leaf piles, clean up debris and litter around your yard.
-Keep shrubs no more than 5 feet from your home’s exterior, and trim branches.
-To keep pests out, caulk any flaws or gaps in the foundation and replace any screens or window gaps.
-Basements, garages, and closets should be kept as clutter-free as possible.
-You can spray a little of peppermint oil or apply a spider and insect spray to eliminate wolf spiders in your home if they are already present, but we strongly urge professional spider extermination to guarantee that the issue is completely handled.