Sweet dreams! Shed spider skin
As a continuation of documenting the spider mess under the outside light and upsetting the arachnophobic, this one is the shed skin of a much larger hunter - a wolf spider. These spiders don't spin webs, they hunt prey by running it down. The wolf spiders belong to the family Lycosidae and these spiders have quite similar markings to the Nursery web spiders but spider families, even shed skins, can be identified by the patterns of eyes. There are 8 eyes, you can see the "main front headlights" with a pair diagonally off to the side. There are four little eyes in a row below the big ones, just above the spider's mouthparts.
The stripey round section is the cephalothorax and the little wrinkled part is the abdomen. The stripe is also fairly typical of wolf spiders
In this view, you can see inside the underside of the cephalothorax, - the little compartments for the legs can be seen below the lifted top.
Wolf spiders can also sometims be seen carrying a little round white egg sac with them. When the eggs hatch, mother spider will carry her brood around on her back, until they are large enough to make their own way in life. During this time, the spiderlings don't feed, but live off their yolk sac. Here's one of mom:
Source: Wikipedia By Celtikkat, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link
You're welcome!
Very interesting photos!
I did not know about these spiders.
Interesting information.
I like spiders. I can pick them up. But I'm afraid of spiders I do not know about.
It's good to make sure about the creatures that you handle beforehand
:-)
How bad is it if these guys bite you?
All spiders have venom but this one isn't dangerous to humans. It may burn, itch or sting for a few days but that is all. It's very rare for them to bite
Thank you, I have to brush these off my shoulder at work every now and then :-)
No doubt!
Oh god.... I don't feel so well right now after this lol what about the habitat of those "things" right here?
You definitely killed the arachnophobics!
Hehehe, this one lives in the house and leaves its shed skins as a sign that it is growing, lol. I found it chilling on top of the burglar bar the other day
I think you might be enjoying scaring everyone, their reactions are funny.
I think its pretty cute the way the mother carries all her babies around on her back.
We have a lot of huntsman around our house, which can look big and hairy, but are actually peaceful, and mind their own business. I like them because they catch the unwanted insects in the house. This is a picture of ours below.
True.
It's very cute, I find them occasionally in the house, babies and all.
Nice black huntsman! We get them here, they have cute striped legs and we call them rain spiders because they come inside when it rains. They are very accurate
Rain spiders, I like that name for them. Once when I hopped in the car and put my seat belt on, there was a massive one sitting right on my chest on the seat belt. I'd be lying if I said it didn't give me a fright.
That they do. I had one run up my arm once. Those big legs are gangly
I may never sleep again.
hehe
Very scary wolf spiders. Straight true monsters. Horror.
Scary name for a strong predator.
I usually like web spiders more because they are pretty chill. But spiders are very fascinating in general and these pictures are just great.
Thank you. I love spiders
We have something in common then!
I'm very afraid spiders. -_-
Nikv, sincerely these are scary!
Not really ;)
I admire you for taking these images, I have disgust and fear of spiders, but seeing these photos made me shiver, you have the courage to do it. Greetings.