Are Wolf Spiders Dangerous? Wolf Spider Bites and Real Risk

Do wolf spiders bite people?

Wolf spiders can bite, but they rarely do. They are shy hunters of insects that run or freeze when a large animal approaches. Most bites happen in a few predictable situations:

• A spider is pressed against the skin, for example inside a shoe, glove or piece of clothing.
• Someone picks a spider up or tries to trap it with bare hands.
• A spider is accidentally squashed in bedding or while gardening.

When cornered, a large wolf spider may raise its front legs and show its fangs as a warning, as in the photo above. This threat posture is meant to make a predator back off. Females guarding an egg sac or a back full of spiderlings may be more defensive, but they still prefer to escape.

What does a wolf spider bite feel like?

Most people describe a wolf spider bite as a sharp pinprick followed by pain, redness and some swelling at the spot. In large species such as the Carolina wolf spider, the fangs are big enough to break human skin easily, so the bite can hurt for a while. The pain usually fades within hours, and other symptoms are uncommon.

The best clinical evidence comes from a study of confirmed wolf spider bites in Australia, published in 2004, in which the spider was caught and identified by an expert. Bites mostly caused short-lived local pain and redness, and none of the patients developed skin ulcers or tissue damage.

Like any bite or sting, a wolf spider bite can occasionally trigger an allergic reaction. Anyone who has trouble breathing, swelling of the face or throat, or feels faint should seek emergency medical help immediately: call 911 in the US, 112 in the EU or 999 in the UK. Any wound that becomes worse over the following days also deserves a medical check.

Why wolf spider venom is not dangerous to people

Wolf spider venom evolved to subdue insects, other spiders and other small prey. It contains a mix of peptides, including molecules called lycotoxins, that disrupt nerve and muscle cells in small animals. Some of these molecules also kill bacteria, which may help keep the spider’s food from spoiling.

The amount of venom in a single bite is tiny, and the toxins are not especially potent in mammals. That is a big difference from the few spiders that are medically important in North America and Europe, such as widow spiders, whose venom attacks nerve endings, and recluse spiders, whose venom can damage skin. You can compare them in most venomous spiders in the world.

Wolf spider or brown recluse? Why they get confused

Wolf spiders are among the spiders most often mistaken for the brown recluse, because both are brown and both show up in homes. In fact they are easy to tell apart once you know what to look for.

Many necrotic skin wounds in people have been blamed on spiders without any spider being seen. Experts point out that bacterial skin infections and other conditions are often mislabeled as “spider bites”. For where recluses really live, see where do brown recluse spiders live?

Are some wolf spiders more dangerous than others?

There are about 2,500 species of wolf spiders worldwide. Larger species can deliver a more painful bite simply because their fangs are larger, and in South America and Australia some big Lycosa and related species were once blamed for serious skin wounds. Later investigations found that those wounds were probably caused by other spiders or by infections.

In Europe the best-known large wolf spider is the tarantula wolf spider of southern Europe, Lycosa tarantula, named after the city of Taranto in southern Italy. It is the original “tarantula”. Old Italian folk belief linked its bite to tarantism, a frenzy said to be cured by dancing the tarantella, but its bite is no more dangerous than that of other large wolf spiders.

Benefits: why wolf spiders are good neighbors

Wolf spiders are important predators of insects in lawns, fields, gardens and farmland. They eat crickets, beetles, caterpillars, cockroaches and many other insects, as well as other spiders. In farm studies, ground-hunting spiders such as wolf spiders are counted among the natural enemies that help hold down crop pests.

Their family life is also unusual. Female wolf spiders carry their egg sacs on their spinnerets and then carry the hatched spiderlings on their backs, as described in why do wolf spiders carry their babies?

How to avoid being bitten

Because wolf spiders bite only in self-defense, avoiding bites is simple. Shake out shoes, gloves and clothing that have been left on the floor, in a garage or outside. Wear gloves when moving firewood, stones or garden debris. If a wolf spider wanders indoors, guide it into a jar or container and carry it outside rather than picking it up by hand. Leaving the spider alone is always the safest choice.