Wolf Spider

[milehigh]

I live in northern Michigan and I found this wolf spider in my yard. I have a few questions:
1. What species of wolf spider is this?
2. This spider formed a "silken door" over the top of it's burrow for a couple of days. Was the Spider molting?

 

[Ciphor]

Interesting. I'm genuinely not sure. The eye placement on the second image looks odd. Must be an angle thing.

 

[milehigh]

Eye Placement

The eye arrangement of the wolf spider does look weird, but that's because of the angle. This picture I added shows the eye arrangement better, and the eyes you see in the 2nd picture are circled in red.

 

[Ciphor]

I'm actually pretty familiar with Lycosidae eye arrangements. I meant, the images you have shown, have an odd looking eye arrangement in comparison to what I typically see with Wolf Spiders.

Your spider has a very smoooth even colored carapace, which is typically more common of smaller, non-burrowing species of wolf spider like Pardosa spp.

In the second image, it almost looks like the spiders PLE's (poster lateral eyes) are located on the top of the head rather then the side and behind.

I full dorsal image would really help with IDing that spider. Wolf spiders are tough with good images. Next to impossible with images of odd spots.

 

[milehigh]

Dorsal Image

I have these pictures too. They're a little blurry, but they might work. The first 2 pictures are before all the other pictures I've posted, and the spider hasn't molted yet. That's why the eyes and abdomen look a little different. (Thanks for helping me with this spider

 

[Ciphor]

I think it is safe to assume it is a species of Hogna. The burrow style is pretty characteristic.

 

[Tarantula_Hawk]

The eye pattern looks more like Geolycosa to me.
http://bugguide.net/images/cache/MQ...QVRIQJRSQCR20K0U0H0N0R0QQNRZQYQRQYQRQJQX0.jpg
http://bugguide.net/images/cache/AL...R6LFLPLJLDZGRCZFLTZSRFZLZTLGRZHPRDLMZAL0Z.jpg

Why not consider this genus?

 

[milehigh]

Hogna, or Geolycosa

I have been looking at eye arrangements for Hogna and Geolycosa. I think that the spider looks closer to Hogna than Geolycosa. Geolycosas' eyes are a little too close together, and in a different position than my wolf spider. Thanks for helping me figure out the genus. But now I have another question, Could the spiders' even colors, and odd eye arrangement be because the spider is not fully grown yet? We've had the wolf spider molt already. (When his abdomen turned from black to tan, and his eye arrangement changed) If anybody has an answer, I'd like to hear it.

 

[JoeMean]

Anyone else think they look like an upside down chin face? Lol

 

[Ciphor]

The eye pattern of Hogna & Geolycosa are not drastically different, which to me would be tricky to tell apart from these photos.

Hogna http://bugguide.net/node/view/672828/bgimage
Geolycosa http://bugguide.net/node/view/345742/bgimage

I assume it to be Hogna over Geolycosa because of other morphological differences I can see in the images.

Abdomen is in line with some species of Hogna http://bugguide.net/node/view/504268/bgimage
And the Orange color (I think I see orange chelicera on image 1&2 on his second image set) would also be a feature of Hogna (kinda orange on carapace too).

I could be wrong here TH, just making an assumption. I'll add, image 3 of his second post certainly looks like it could be a Geolycosa sp.

 

[loxoscelesfear]

Hogna carolinensis. typical burrow, orange/yellow chelicerae, dark-gray body typical of carolinensis in the northern states. If indeed a Geolycosa, then Geolycosa wrighti, why I try to ID spiders by photos is beyond me, I am wrong 75% of the time.

 

[milehigh]

The spider looks similar to Geolycosa sp. in the 3rd image in "dorsal image" post because that picture was taken before the spider even molted. After it molted is when the abdomen turned rounder, the eye arrangement changed, and the spiders' color turned to an even tan color.- (Most of the pictures I took were after the molt.) I posted this picture because I it shows the spiders' body shape, and (I don't know) it might help with identifying the spiders' genus or species.
I don't know if this will help or not, but I'll list some of the spiders' habits:
1. While digging his burrow, the spider stuck grains of sand together with silk and flung it away from the burrow.- We caught it on a video.
2. The lip of the spiders' burrow is pointed more toward the East. In the morning and early afternoon the spider basks in the sun.- (or waits for prey, I'm not sure) In the afternoon/evening, the spider waits just below the lip of his/her burrow. Rarely did I see the spider sit all the way out of his/her burrow- (like in the 3rd image in my dorsal image post.)
3.The spider covered its' burrow with a "silken door" (I think) when it was molting.

Could the spiders' even colors be because the spider hasn't done it's final molt? (I've only experienced him/her molt once.)
Is it possible that the spider is a species of burrowing wolf spider? (I am not an expert on Wolf Spiders.)

 

[Ciphor]

Still pretty sure this is Hogna

 

[Tarantula_Hawk]

Thanks for the replies. I just wanted to spice things up.
I'm not really that familiar with your neartic lycosids. I do believe, though, that they are a mess taxonomy-wise. The whole neartic Hogna genus (which is actually a paleartic genus) is in urgent need of a decent revision IMO. You just get loads of species which are constrastingly different from one another with respect to a lot of characters (such as eye pattern -> http://bugguide.net/node/view/255238/bgimage , looks pretty different to this one).

 

[Zelbess]

I can't help much in this ID debate, but I just wanted to say: that is a gorgeous spider! I really enjoy the clear photos of it's face, I don't get to see that view too often. This particular spider is actually quite cute! Reminds me a bit of a jumping spider face in some ways.

 

[milehigh]

Wolf Spider Young !!!!!

Today I went to the Wolf Spider burrow, and found the entrance blocked with the spiders' shed skin. With a closer look I noticed a young spider in the burrow! The adult spider had disappeared for a while, so I guess it was laying eggs. At the top of the spiders' shed skin were the fangs, and I managed to get a magnified image of them through my microscope. (Below)
I also got a magnified image of the end of a leg, and you can see the microscopic claw on the end. (Below) Just thought these pictures were pretty cool. :biggrin:

 

[John Apple]

looks hogna-ish to me also......orange face to me also looks like carolinensis.......time to catch some this weekend
and compare

 

[Greenjewls]

Can we see some pics of the venter? H. carolinensis should be jet black on the entire underside.

 

[Ciphor]

Can we see some pics of the venter? H. carolinensis should be jet black on the entire underside.

Not always.