As the days get warmer here in Scotland, several species become much more active.
Cryptic species may not be noticed, but the large cursorial wolf spiders can't be missed as they run about in search of their prey.
As the days get warmer here in Scotland, several species become much
more active.
Cryptic species may not be noticed, but the large cursorial wolf spiders
can't be missed as they run about in search of their prey.
Pardosa pullata is often especially obvious, sometimes running about in large numbers over the top of grasses and rushes in marshy areas and wet fields.
In pitfall traps, it's possible to take this species throughout the year, especially females, but in late spring and early summer even the most casual of observers walking in the countryside may be impressed by a tiny "herd" of hundreds of these spiders running away from the walker's boots!
Although they are cursorial hunters and don't use a web to catch their food, wolf spiders do spin threads of silk. As they run about they leave a thread behind them, attached to the substratum at intervals. Chemicals on this thread an act as pheromones to influence the behaviour of the opposite sex - clever eh!
Pardosa pullata show typical features of a cursorial predator.
Look at those strong legs, long (especially the back legs) for fast running,
but strong (just look at the first pair) for prey capture.
But it's not all bloodthirsty stuff. They show a tremendous amount of
parental care.
The female spider will wrap her eggs in an eggs and carry this around
until the young hatch out.
Then the tiny spiderlings will climb up on to their mother's back -
and mum will carry them around until they're too big to stay on!
So, if you see one of these spiders that looks like it's wearing a
woolly jacket - it's mum carrying her babies,
Quite a contrast with the diminutive web-spinner from last
month!
Our spider of the month for April, was
another wolf spider - and is still around in some numbers just now.
Once again, the picture of P. pullata is from that wonderful book by Dr. Mike Roberts : The Spiders of Great Britain and Ireland, published by Harley Books in 1985.
The picture of the female spider carrying her young is from a classic
in arachnological literature: The World of Spiders by W.S. Bristowe,
originally published in the New Naturalist series by Collins in 1958.
| Return to..? | 
Months index |
Arachnologia |
Table of months |
Ariadne Home Page |
|