Alberta Wolf Spider

jsloan

Arachnoangel
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Jun 22, 2004
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This guy was a subadult when I caught him (in a pitfall trap) last August, and he finally molted about a week ago. The genus is Alopecosa, but I need to look at the palps to find out the species. Might be a morph of A. aculeata, but I'll check to be sure. I've got an adult female that looks similar (need to ID her eventually, too), and I might put them together to see if anything happens. If it does I'll get some photos. :) BL ~ 9.5 mm





Earlier this season, I identified a male A. aculeata that had a different color and pattern on the abdomen:



And here's a male I caught last year, which I have in BugGuide under A. kochi. I think it might actually be A. aculeata, though, so one of these days I'm going to dig out the specimen and take another look at its palp:

 
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davisfam

Arachnoknight
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Jul 19, 2010
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Wowzaa, that's a gorgeous Wolfiie! Nice find! :clap: I sure hope we catch a few beautiies like this when we try out the traps! Thanks for sharing! ;)

And YES, please post pictures!! Haha! :]
 

jsloan

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Jun 22, 2004
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Well, nothing happened when I put them together. Here is the female, anyway, which I was able to identify from her epigyne as Alopecosa aculeata (BL ~ 9 mm):



It's interesting how individuals of the same species can look different. Here's another adult female A. aculeata from earlier in the season:

 

revilo

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Feb 2, 2010
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173
hi jsloan,

very nice pics ;)

the alopecosa spp. are the biggest lycosids in germany (together with some arctosa, trochosa). yah, we dont have big wolfies here...:(
but i like them a lot, they are a little bit like "mini hogna" i sometimes think when i look at them.
if you would like it i set a few alopecosa pics in this thread ?

ciao oli

p.s.: excuse my bad english, it's too early in the morning...
 

jsloan

Arachnoangel
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if you would like it i set a few alopecosa pics in this thread ?
Sure. I'd like to see them. Can you post small files, though? I'm on dialup and some of the larger ones take forever to download. I'm unable to look at a lot of the images posted in here for that reason.
 

jsloan

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the alopecosa spp. are the biggest lycosids in germany (together with some arctosa, trochosa). yah, we dont have big wolfies here...:(
I'm looking forward to seeing your Alopecosa pics. :D

Trochosa and Alopecosa, with BL around 9-10 mm, are the largest wolfs I've found in northern Alberta. You're lucky in having several Trochosa sp. in Europe. T. terricola is the only species where I live.

But, as far as size goes, I think the smaller wolf spiders, especially the many Pardosa species, are just as interesting as the larger ones. I've identified around ten species so far in and around my home. Perhaps we should start a Pardosa thread? :) I've already posted some pics in various scattered threads over the past year or so.
 

revilo

Arachnoknight
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Feb 2, 2010
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hi jsloan,

sorry have to get up soo early this week that i'm tired and lazy in the evening :rolleyes:

here are some pics :





this are 2 alopecosa species from near by my house. a. trabalis and a. cuneata


this is trochosa ruricola i think






and this is a undeterminated alopecosa sp. from china. the only lycosidae i was mating without success (all others worked good) - she was building 3 eggsacs, but nothing hatched :wall:

i hope you like it...;)

regards, oli
 

revilo

Arachnoknight
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Feb 2, 2010
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173
aarrrgh - pics are big ??!! maybe i was doing a mistake ?

hope you are able to watch them without problems...
 

jsloan

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Jun 22, 2004
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aarrrgh - pics are big ??!! maybe i was doing a mistake ?

hope you are able to watch them without problems...
Yes, no problems. It took about 15 minutes for them to download, but I got them all. Looks like you've got some good ones there. Trochosa sp. are some of my favorite wolf spiders.
 

jsloan

Arachnoangel
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Jun 22, 2004
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Here's a pair of Trochosa terricola from Alberta:

Adult Female:



Adult Male:
 

revilo

Arachnoknight
Joined
Feb 2, 2010
Messages
173
hi,

oh sh.. 15 min. !? sorry for this ! next time i try to scale the pics...

yes, trochosa spp. are nice and in the past i liked them a lot because they are the bigger ones here in germany. but now, hmm i don't like them soo much because the glassy and shiny legs :rolleyes: so i love more the alopecosa spp. from the smaller species'...

but you have great luck with the find of your male ! i will say in case i found 10 trochosa's than only one of them is a male.

you mate them ?

bye, oli
 

Montgg

Arachnosquire
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Sep 22, 2012
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Jsloan you found these? in alberta i live in edmonton i thought we only had paradosa in nw alberta ?? help please thx. and how would i catch one thx
 

Montgg

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Sep 22, 2012
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I thought pardosa was only found in Edmonton area please some one reply thx
 

Montgg

Arachnosquire
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Sep 22, 2012
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well going tomorow to go bug hunting. hoping to catch something other then a pardosa are there any other wolf spiders in ab
that are not pardosa ive looked all over the web and found no results
 

StampFan

Arachnodemon
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Jul 12, 2017
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756
Bumping forward this LONG dead thread as my kids just caught one of these today. Any advice on keeping one of these alive for a week or two in a container for the kids to watch?
 
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