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- Written by Clyde McMillan-Gamber Clyde McMillan-Gamber
One spring evening, I saw a wolf spider crossing our street in front of our suburban house. Fearing a casualty on the street, I chased that spider off it.
Another time, late in the afternoon in October, I saw another wolf spider crossing a farmland road, and this one carried several baby spiders on her upper abdomen. I chased her off the road, too.
I have seen several wolf spiders and a few six-spotted fishing spiders in southeastern Pennsylvania through the years. And each handsome spider has been interesting to see in its natural habitat.
Wolf spiders mostly inhabit dead-leaf-covered woodland floors and older suburban areas. Fishing spiders inhabit emergent vegetation on the shallow edges of ponds and slow waterways.
These spiders have much in common, though they are not closely related. They both live across much of the United States. Both species are mostly dark brown with a couple of beige stripes on top, which camouflage them beautifully in their respective habitats.
Neither kind spins webs to snare small invertebrates but instead stalk prey and grab it as a wolf would. Both are mostly nocturnal.
The bodies of both kinds are up to 1.5 inches long. Their legs make them look even larger. Each spider of both types has eight legs, as all spiders do, and eight black eyes that afford them good vision.
Females of both species spawn eggs into a white sac of silk they drag around with them. Both kinds have venom they use to paralyze invertebrates they capture to suck out their juices. But these spiders are harmless to people.
Wolf spiders hide by day under fallen leaves, logs, rocks, matted grass, and other objects on the ground. But at night, they track down by sight crickets, beetles, and other invertebrates. They have long, strong legs to quickly pursue their victims.
However, other nocturnal creatures — including screech owls, striped skunks, short-tailed shrews, and small snakes — catch and consume wolf spiders. But camouflage, good vision, and strong legs help save some wolf spiders from predators.
Like wolf spiders, fishing spiders catch invertebrates by sight. But the attractive fishing spiders also perch on emergent vegetation along shallow shorelines and place two or three legs on the water’s surface to feel for activity in the water that could mean land-based invertebrates struggling on the water’s surface.
Fishing spiders also snare tadpoles and tiny fish they see or feel at the water’s surface, hence their common name.
Some fishing spiders fall prey to frogs; water snakes; certain kinds of birds, including sandpipers; and fish large enough to swallow those spiders. Fishing spiders need good vision to eat but not be eaten.
Wolf spiders and fishing spiders, in their natural habitats, are interesting and exciting creatures to experience. But people do not have to fear them. They have venom to help capture their prey but are harmless to people.
Clyde McMillan-Gamber is a retired Lancaster County Parks naturalist.