Carolina Wolf Spider (Hogna carolinensis): Wolf Spider Facts

What does a Carolina wolf spider look like?

The Carolina wolf spider is a stocky, hairy spider with a mostly brown, grayish-brown or dark brown body. The back carries a faint, mottled pattern of lighter and darker brown, which works as camouflage on soil and dry grass. The underside of the body is solid black, a useful clue for experts. Males often show orange coloring along the sides of the abdomen.

Like all wolf spiders, it has eight dark eyes arranged in three rows. Four small eyes sit in a row low on the face, two very large eyes look forward above them, and two medium-sized eyes sit farther back on top of the head. The two big forward-facing eyes give wolf spiders their alert, almost mammal-like look.

The legs are long, strong and covered in hairs and spines. Wolf spiders are built for running and grappling rather than for web-building. The most similar species in North America is Hogna helluo, which is a little smaller and has a variegated underside in shades of red, orange, yellow and black.

How big is the Carolina wolf spider?

Females are the larger sex. Adult females usually measure 22–35 mm (0.9–1.4 in) in body length, while adult males are about 18–20 mm (0.7–0.8 in). The long legs make the spider look much larger, and a big female crossing a floor at night can look startlingly large for a North American spider.

Spider weights are rarely published, and even the biggest females weigh only a few grams. For comparison, the largest spiders in the world, the bird-eating tarantulas of South America, are several times bigger in body length.

Habitat and range

Carolina wolf spiders live across a large part of North America. Records come from the southeastern states, including South Carolina, through the Midwest and the Great Lakes region, the Great Plains and the desert Southwest, and the species also reaches northern Mexico.

They prefer flat, open and fairly dry ground: grasslands, old fields, prairie, desert scrub, open woodland, pastures, lawns and large gardens. Much of the scientific research on the species has been carried out on desert populations in the Southwest.

In autumn, wandering males and some females turn up in garages, sheds, basements and homes. They do not build nests indoors and are usually just passing through.

Burrows and turrets

The Carolina wolf spider is a burrowing species. A spider either digs its own burrow or takes over one made by another small animal. It digs by loosening soil with its jaws and legs and binding the walls with silk, then extends the tube bit by bit. Some burrows go straight down while others bend, and some reach about 30 cm (12 in) deep.

Many spiders build a small turret, a low rim, around the entrance from twigs, grass, leaves, pebbles and mud held together with silk. Scientists are not certain what the turret is for; it may serve as a lookout post or help warn the spider of approaching animals.

The burrow is far more than a hiding place. Deep burrows stay several degrees cooler than the surface on hot desert days, which helps the spider avoid overheating and drying out. The spiders are active mainly from early spring to fall and spend the coldest months inactive in their burrows.

Diet and hunting without a web

Carolina wolf spiders are carnivores that feed mostly on insects and other small invertebrates. Crickets, grasshoppers, beetles, caterpillars, cockroaches and other spiders are typical prey. Like several other large wolf spiders, they occasionally catch small vertebrates; there are records of young geckos being eaten.

They hunt mainly at night. A spider waits at the mouth of its burrow, often with its front legs resting on the rim, and rushes out to grab prey that comes close. Spiders away from their burrows hunt by searching and pouncing. The prey is held with the legs and jaws (chelicerae) and subdued with venom, then dragged into the burrow or eaten on the spot.

The venom contains peptides called lycotoxins. Besides helping to paralyze prey, some of these molecules kill bacteria, and researchers think this may help protect the spider from microbes in its food. For more on how different spiders feed, see what do spiders eat?

Eyes, senses and eyeshine

Wolf spiders have some of the best eyesight among spiders, bettered mainly by jumping spiders and huntsman spiders. The large forward-facing eyes are very sensitive in dim light, which suits a night hunter. Carolina wolf spiders also feel vibrations through the ground with sensitive hairs and slit organs on their legs, and they react to threats by darting into their burrows or running away.

Behind several of the eyes lies a reflective layer called the tapetum. When you shine a flashlight across a lawn at night, the eyes of wolf spiders reflect the light back as tiny green or bluish sparkles, a trick naturalists use to find them. The science behind this is explained in why do wolf spider eyes glow?

Reproduction and life cycle

Most mating takes place in late summer. A courting male approaches a female cautiously, extending his front legs, waving his palps (the leg-like feelers beside the jaws) and vibrating his abdomen. If she accepts him, he mates and then retreats quickly, because females sometimes attack and eat males.

The female then spins a round, silk egg sac that holds roughly 200 eggs and attaches it to her spinnerets at the tip of the abdomen. She carries it everywhere for about two weeks, often resting at the top of her burrow with the sac raised toward the warmth. Researchers think this “sunning” may speed up development.

When the spiderlings hatch, they climb onto their mother’s back and ride there for about the first week of their lives, living on yolk left from the egg. Then they disperse to find their own shelter. You can read more in why do wolf spiders carry their babies?

Young spiders molt several times as they grow. In studied populations they reach adulthood and first breed in their third summer. Males usually die that same season, while females can survive and breed again in later years.

Predators and threats

Despite their size, Carolina wolf spiders have many enemies. Lizards, toads, frogs, birds, owls, coyotes, scorpions and predatory ants all eat them. Spider wasps (family Pompilidae) are specialist hunters: a female wasp paralyzes a spider with her sting and buries it as fresh food for her larva.

Males, which often have no burrow of their own while they wander in search of females, are the most exposed. Studies of escape behavior show that males flee more readily than females, which can simply retreat underground.

The species has not been assessed by the IUCN, so its official status is Not Evaluated. It is widespread and common in suitable open habitat. Like other ground-dwelling invertebrates, it is affected locally by habitat loss and heavy pesticide use.

Is the Carolina wolf spider dangerous?

The Carolina wolf spider is venomous but not dangerous to healthy people. It is shy and prefers to run or hide. Bites happen mainly when a spider is pressed against the skin, trapped in clothing or picked up, and they usually cause pain, redness and slight swelling similar to a bee sting. Wolf spider venom does not cause the tissue damage linked to recluse spiders.

As with any bite or sting, anyone who has a severe allergic-type reaction, such as trouble breathing or swelling of the face, should seek emergency medical help immediately (call 911 in the US). For the full picture, see are wolf spiders dangerous?

Myths and facts

“Big hairy spiders in the house are tarantulas.” In most of the eastern and central United States, a big brown hairy spider indoors is far more likely to be a wolf spider. Wolf spiders have long, slim legs, run fast, and have that distinctive pair of large forward-facing eyes.

“Every brown spider is a brown recluse.” Wolf spiders are among the spiders most often mistaken for recluses, but they are larger and hairier, have eight eyes rather than six, and have no violin-shaped mark.

“Wolf spiders hunt in packs.” Despite the name, wolf spiders are solitary. They live alone in their own burrows or retreats, and the only regular togetherness is between a mother and her spiderlings.

Relationship with people

The Carolina wolf spider has been the official state spider of South Carolina since 2000, adopted after a third-grade student from Orangeburg suggested it. At the time South Carolina was the only US state with an official spider.

In gardens and farmland, wolf spiders are valuable natural predators of crickets, beetles and other plant-eating insects. A spider that wanders indoors in the fall is usually a male looking for a mate, and it can simply be carried back outside in a jar. Other large spiders of the region are described in spiders in Texas.