Pond Wolf Spider
Pardosa pseudoannulata (Boesenberg & Strand) 1906

狼蛛

Identification Guide to Pond Wolf Spider
 

Pardosa pseudoannulata has a forked or Y-shaped median light band on the carapace. Its sub-lateral margins have a longitudinal white band. The male spider has 4 to 5 transverse light bands on the dorsal side of the abdomen, whereas the female has 3 elongate-ovate light bands and a pair of globular spots. In addition, the male has enlarged palps.
 

Since Wolf Spiders have no webs, the mothers carry their egg sacs with them. As young spiderlings hatch from the sac they climb onto their mother, who carries them on her back.

This spider is easily recognized in the field by the two dark bands on the carapace and ring-like markings on the legs. The sternum on the underside of the spider is decorated with six dark spots.

Most Wolf Spiders hunt on the ground. Female Wolf Spiders are immediately recognizable in the field because they roam around with a spherical egg-sac attached to their spinnerets. The egg-sac is made up of two halves united by a seam.

Newly hatched spiderlings can sometimes be seen riding on the back of their mother (right, Pardosa sp. female). The spiderlings apparently do not feed while on the mother's back, surviving on the remains of their yolk. If they fall off, they can still hang on to the mother by a silken life-line, and can easily return to the mother's back via its legs or palps. The spiderlings disperse only after undergoing a moulting.

Eye arrangement of a
Wolf Spider, Pardosa sp.
Note the swollen palps (black) of the male. The eyes are in three rows comprising a front row of four small eyes, and a median and back row of two larger eyes each. When a male meets a female, it waves its palps and performs a series of push-up movements.

These antics serve to establish the identity of the male, a signal to the female that it is a suitor of the same species to be mated with, and not food to be consumed!