identify this monster spider in my backyard...eek!

[skadiwolf]

okay, this HUGE!!! thing (at least to me) was in my backyard very complacently underneath a car. i didn't do anything to make it move and like hell was i going to try to catch it. lol.

however, like a true respector of nature, i photographed it. so, can you guys identify this for me?

 

[skadiwolf]

actually...(grin)...is this a Dolomedes tenebrosus, fishing spider? i saw the other 'wolf spider' post and although that's in CT, and i'm in GA, they look AWFULLY similar.

thoughts?

 

[AllenG]

is it still alive or squished flat? i can't tell hehe

 

[LaRiz]

Looks like a wolfie w/babies! Dolomedes seems to have longer and more of a taper to thier legs, among other characteristics. I could be wrong though
john

 

[kinetikx]

My first instinct is a wolf spider. It definitley has babies on its abdomen. But the girth of its legs kind of throws me...

 

[Longbord1]

definetly a wolf i have all over my back yard i think wolves really are the only spider where u live that carries its young on its back

 

[skadiwolf]

oh no, very, VERY much alive and huge. just sitting there calmly. didn't move at all, but was gone in the morning a few hours later.

i couldn't tell exactly if those were babies and was a BIT intimidated so didn't get SUPER close. this was very late at night and so it was really, really dark. had to light her with a flashlight and then get as close as i dared with my camera.

thanks guys!

my first impression was a wolf but the leg markings looked SO much like that other pic on here that ended up being a fishing spider. plus, they'd said that it was one of the largest spiders in the US behind Ts.

 

[Wade]

Definately a wolf, genus probably Hogna (formally Lycosa), and they're definately babies. Dolomedes don't carry babies on the back the way wolfs do.

Wade

 

[AllenG]

oh hahahhaha...i didn't notice the little babies, now that i look closer I see them

 

[Kali]

definitly a wolf! these giant monsters used to run around the sidewalk at my old job. do you live near a field? i am always amazed how true spiders make me so nervous, but my house holds 11 t's, 1 trapdoor, and a freshly wc brown widow.

Kristin=D