The Common Spiders of the United States

by J. H. Emerton

THE GENUS LYCOSA

The genus Lycosa includes spiders that differ greatly in the proportions of different parts of their bodies. In general, they are large and stout and their legs short compared to those of Pardosa and Dolomedes, the front legs being not much longer than the body. In the short and stout species, like pratensis [(fig. 170)], the eyes cover only a small part of the head, while in the longer legged and more slender species, like communis [(fig. 181)], they are larger and spread farther apart. The head is highest behind and rounded downward in front, but less so in those species with large eyes. The spines of the legs are comparatively small and on the two front pairs concealed by the surrounding hairs. The fine flattened hairs on the front feet sometimes form a thick brush on the under side, extending up from the claws as far as the tibia. The colors are all shades of brown and gray.

Lycosa nidicola.—When full grown three-quarters of an inch long; the legs short, the longest an inch in length. The color is dull yellow or greenish brown. On the cephalothorax there is a narrow yellow stripe in the middle and one on each side [(fig. 166)], and on the front of the abdomen the usual pointed stripe, dark at the edges and bordered by lighter bands. On the hinder half of the abdomen are indistinct cross marks. The legs are without markings, and the spines short and hardly visible. The under side of the abdomen [(fig. 167)] is light in the middle and darker at the sides and marked with small brown spots. The males and young are lighter and more plainly marked than the adult females. This spider lives under stones and other shelters in the woods in a shallow nest, lined with silk, where the female may be found with her cocoon of eggs early in the summer.

Lycosa pratensis.—A small species, four-fifths to half an inch long, yellowish brown, with indistinct light and dark markings. The cephalothorax has a middle light band as wide as the eyes, narrowed a little in front of the dorsal groove and broken in the middle by two brown spots [(fig. 168)]. The sides of the cephalothorax near the edge are faintly lighter than the rest. The abdomen has a pointed middle stripe, dark at the edges, extending back half its length, and behind this four or five dark cross stripes. The legs are darker toward the ends; the femora are marked with two broken dark bands, and the patella and tibia of the third and fourth legs have faint dark rings. The spines are small and, on the two front pairs of legs, hardly visible among the other hairs. The under side is light colored, with the ends of the legs darker. The epigynum is short and wide. The males differ little from the females. This does not seem to be a very active spider and is commonly found under stones.

Lycosa polita.—This is a short-legged species resembling in size and color Lycosa pratensis. The hairs are very short and often entirely absent from the cephalothorax, which is smooth and shining. The eyes are very close together, especially the two of the middle row, which is much shorter than the front row [(fig. 171)]. The cephalothorax and legs are often light brown without any markings, but in some individuals there are irregular dark marks along the sides of the thorax and broken rings on the legs. The abdomen is gray, light in the middle, with dark transverse marks behind and closely placed dark spots at the sides, much as in Tegenaria medicinalis and Amaurobius. The abdomen is light underneath, with a darker middle line and irregular oblique rows of spots at the sides.

Lycosa nidifex.—This spider lives in sandy regions,—the females in holes ten or twelve inches deep, the adult males on the surface of the ground. The males [(fig. 174)] are half or five-eighths of an inch long and spread two inches. They are colored like the sand,—a little redder sometimes in the middle spots and on the femora, and gray at the sides. There is a spot in the middle of the abdomen edged with black and a black band on each side of the head divided in front, the branches extending to the lateral eyes of both rows. The ends of the palpi and the spinnerets are black. The mandibles are black, except in the middle, where they are covered with bright yellow hairs. On the under side [(fig. 175)] the two front pairs of legs, sternum, and mouth parts are black, the hinder legs and abdomen light sand color, like the back. The female [(fig. 173)] is larger,—three-quarters of an inch or more in length. The color is more gray or slate color, darker in front and lighter behind, as in the male. The cephalothorax has a light gray band in the middle, and the abdomen a middle dark band broken at the sides by three or four pairs of light spots. The front two pairs of legs are thicker than the others and more closely covered with hair in both sexes.

In August the males wander about on the sand and are easily caught. Though their color is much like the sand, the marks of the back and legs make them more easily seen than L. cinerea [(fig. 177)] and other sand spiders. The females live in holes three-quarters of an inch wide and ten inches or more deep. The sand is held together by silk, which is very thin below but thicker toward the opening. Sometimes bits of sticks and straw are fastened around the hole, but as often it is entirely clean and not concealed in any way. The females keep near their holes and drop into them at the least fright. As one walks across the neighborhood no spiders are to be seen, only open holes. After a short time they come to the surface, at first slowly, but sometimes, as they see the place clear, with a sudden jump, and stand over the hole ready to drop back into it. The color of the females is more gray or slate color than that of the males. The markings of the abdomen are larger and more distinct, but the black on the thorax and front legs is less marked than in the males.

Lycosa carolinensis.—This is one of the largest spiders living in the northern states, and it resembles in size and color the famous Tarantula of southern Europe [(fig. 175)]. The female is sometimes over an inch in length, with the fourth legs an inch and a half long, so that it spreads over three inches. The males have the legs as long but more slender, and the body is smaller, measuring three-quarters of an inch. The color is gray mixed with brown, like the fur of a mouse, the males lighter than the females.

On the under side the whole body is black, including the first and second joints of the legs and the maxillæ. The legs are light gray, with dark bands at the ends of the joints. The mandibles are brown, with orange-yellow hairs on the front. There is sometimes a little yellow on the ends of the first and second legs and palpi of the male.

The female makes a hole, but not a deep one, and hides in it with her eggs, but is often found running about on the ground.

Lycosa cinerea.—A common spider on beaches and sandy fields all over this country and in Europe [(fig. 177)] The general color is dirty white covered with small black and gray marks, so that, when it lies flat on the sand, it can hardly be distinguished from it. The body is half an inch long, and the fourth legs nearly an inch. The under side is white or gray, and the whole body covered with white and gray hairs. The legs are marked with indistinct dark rings, two or three to each joint. On the cephalothorax the spots radiate irregularly from the dorsal groove; the space between the eyes is dark, and the mandibles are dark brown. The markings of the abdomen are broken up into small spots, so that there is little of the usual figures. The male palpi are long and slender and the ends very small.

Lycosa kochii.—This is a common species in the woods, and is colored brown and gray, like dead leaves [(fig. 179)]. It is half an inch long when full grown, and the fourth legs three-quarters of an inch. The upper eyes are larger than in pratensis and nidicola, and cover half the width of the head, as in communis. The cephalothorax is light gray in the middle and dark at the sides and around the front of the head. The legs are gray, lighter toward the body and darker toward the ends, marked with indistinct rings, two or three to each joint. The abdomen is gray, with broken darker gray markings forming indistinctly a row of transverse marks in the middle. The sides are darkest toward the front end, where there are two black spots. The under side is lighter than the back. The epigynum [(fig. 180)] differs from that of the related species, having the middle lobe narrow in front and wide and triangular at the end.

Lycosa communis.—This is a common spider in pastures, running in grass or hiding under stones. It varies in color from light gray to almost black, but the markings are almost always the same and distinct. On the thorax there is a middle stripe extending forward to the eyes, and a narrower one between the eyes to the front of the head [(fig. 181)]. At the sides are light stripes nearly as wide as the middle one extending under the eyes to the front of the head. On the abdomen the front pointed stripe is large. The light stripes at the side of it are wide and distinct, uniting on the hinder half of the abdomen into a middle stripe, broken sometimes into a row of four or five spots. In dark individuals this light marking is yellow and more strongly defined than in lighter ones. On the thorax, especially in light colored-spiders, there are usually two or three light marks radiating from the dorsal groove. The legs, except the ends of the first and second, are marked with rings at the ends and middle of the joints, indistinct in light spiders and brighter in dark ones.

The length is two-fifths to half an inch. The legs are long, the fourth pair three-quarters of an inch in length. The second row of eyes is a little wider than the first, and the second eyes are large and their diameter apart [(fig. 182)]. On the under side of the abdomen are two dark stripes meeting at the spinnerets so as to form a horseshoe-shaped figure, but in some very dark individuals the whole under side of the abdomen behind the epigynum is dark colored. There is little difference between the sexes. The females carry eggs in June and July.

Lycosa scutulata.—This is a large and well-marked species, over half an inch in length and with hind legs over an inch long [(fig. 183)]. The legs are yellowish gray without markings. The cephalothorax is dark gray, with a light middle stripe and one on each side extending under the eyes to the front of the head. There is also a narrow light line on the edge of the thorax at the sides. In the middle of the abdomen is a dark stripe, with five or six pairs of light spots, those of the front pair being only partly inclosed by the stripe. At the sides of the middle stripe are narrower light bands, and beyond these fine light and dark oblique lines. On the under side the whole body is light gray.

In the males the front legs are a little longer and much darker colored than the others. The male palpi are slender, and the tarsi small for so large a spider. The second row of eyes is a little wider than the front row.

Lycosa ocreata.—The female may easily be mistaken for young L. kochii [(fig. 179)] or communis [(fig. 181)], but the male is conspicuous on account of the dark head and front legs and especially the thick covering of black hairs on the tibiæ of the first pair. The cephalothorax has a distinct light middle stripe, narrower and straighter in the male (figs. [184, 185]). The middle of the abdomen is yellow, with the pointed stripe only a little darker and marked with black spots around the edges. At the sides the abdomen is brown, broken in spots, and in the middle of the hinder half are three or four cross marks. The legs are yellowish and ringed with gray in the females. In the males the femora and the sides of the thorax are much darker brown, and the tibiæ of the front pair dark and thickly covered with hairs. The male palpi have the patella and tibia thickened and about as wide as long. The front legs are plainly thicker than the second in both sexes. The second row of eyes is wider than the first. The length of either sex is a little over quarter of an inch. The legs are slender and thinly covered with long fine hairs. The longest leg is about half an inch.