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Ran across a female wolf spider a couple of months ago.
My girlfriend and I were doing some hiking in the same area and I suddenly jumped straight up and backwards about three feet while simultaneously letting out a superb string of expletives!
She stated that it was just a "spider".
I said no, it was not "just a spider", I would not have even noticed "just a spider" - it was the biggest, #%@!?* spider I had ever seen, and that I was just showing it the respect and admiration that it so rightly deserved.
And regardless of what she tells you, I DID NOT SCREAM LIKE A LITTLE SCHOOL GIRL!!!!

Excluding the sac spider both the others were probably boys. The sac spider was probably an old bitty.

Quick way to tell with wandering spiders.
1. They are wandering...aka...looking to get laid, especially in the fall seasons.
2. The pedipalps (aka the two "legs" nearest the fangs) are almost always modified in the bigger spiders, if it is a mature male. They look more enlarged and kidney bean shaped. Some even have hooks on those "legs" to grab a females fangs while mating so he doesn't end up as the main course.

The one from Panama was likely either a red rump or a bottlebrush tarantula. Very cool!!!

Wolf spiders are great in the house if you have a small child because they will eat bugs like bees and other insects that could cause a small kiddo accidental harm. They are also very unlikely to bite the child as they can "feel" the kiddo coming and will eventually leave.

Just a bit of info for the heck of it. I love spiders!!

Now you are just about begging for more spider pics!

Okay, here's one from Damas Cave in Costa Rica. This one has a 5-6 inch legspan, and just came out of it's old exoskeleton. Of note, I actually do have, or can dig up, the particulars on most of my spider photos. But I've not tracked this one down yet, so feel free to ID it for me.



Of note, the Zambia spider is "likely" a rain spider (Palystes). It could be a baboon spider, as I never really did look it over much. Just carried it out back to the garden, took some pics and left it wander off.

The Panama spider is genus: Sericopelma, and probablya new species.

Cheers,

Keith

I just can't stop!

Here's another from Damas Cave, and again a spider I've not tracked down. Given the unusual square-shaped egg case, ball-shaped position of the spider, and located in a cave, it shouldn't be all that hard to work out, but I've not put any time into it yet.



Keith

WildWolf wrote:Thanks. It looks just like the Genus:Hogna Species:Helluo.

I just found out this is not Hogna helluo, it is Hogna aspersa (The Tiger Wolf Spider). It is very similar to H. helluo but an easy way to tell the difference is that it does not have the tiger stripes at the base of its legs like H. aspersa.

tropicalbats wrote:Now you are just about begging for more spider pics!

Okay, here's one from Damas Cave in Costa Rica. This one has a 5-6 inch legspan, and just came out of it's old exoskeleton. Of note, I actually do have, or can dig up, the particulars on most of my spider photos. But I've not tracked this one down yet, so feel free to ID it for me.



Of note, the Zambia spider is "likely" a rain spider (Palystes). It could be a baboon spider, as I never really did look it over much. Just carried it out back to the garden, took some pics and left it wander off.

The Panama spider is genus: Sericopelma, and probablya new species.

Cheers,

Keith

Im not sure what this one is, I have to look at it more but for now I will guess that it is in the Filistatidae family.

I never have been able to figure that one out, but hadn't considered the crevice weavers as I didn't think they got that big. Something to think about.

keith

tropicalbats wrote:I never have been able to figure that one out, but hadn't considered the crevice weavers as I didn't think they got that big. Something to think about.

keith

I guess I must have not payed attention to the size, I don't think I have seen one that large either.