Long Legged Sac Spider (Cheiracanthium sp.)

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A Long Legged Sac Spider (Cheiracanthium sp.) I found in my basement. A lot less menacing than it looks, probably only 3/4 of an inch including legs. These are very very common spiders in the house, no doubt you have a few around too. This is a male, you can tell by the large black furry palps. You can see a photo of a female here. The male seems to have much longer legs and a wider carapace.

Several reports classify these spiders as possibly harmful, but real study shows their bites are not poisonous or necrotic to humans.

Raynox DCR-150 mounted on my Panasonic Lumix FZ8. I used a simple styrafoam bowl as a flash diffuser for the lighting. Worked out very well if you ask me.

Wolf Spider (Pardosa sp.)

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Pardosa sp., are also known as Thin-Legged Wolf Spiders. This is a female I caught near my watering hose. It was a fair bit larger than the male I caught earlier, probably twice as large. You can compare this female to a male I caught earlier here. Notice how the male has big black furry palps.

Like all Wolf Spiders they are robust and agile hunters with good eyesight. Check out the eyes on this guy. Wolf spiders can be found in a wide range of habitats both coastal and inland. These include shrublands, woodland, wet coastal forest, alpine meadows, and suburban gardens. Spiderlings disperse aerially and consequently wolf spiders have wide distributions. Although some species have very specific microhabitat needs (such as stream-side gravel beds or montane herb-fields) most are wanderers without permanent homes. Some build burrows which can be opened or have a trapdoor. Arid zone species construct turrets or plug their holes with leaves and pebbles during the rainy season to protect themselves from flood waters.

Raynox DCR-150 and Raynox DCR-250, stacked and mounted on my Panasonic Lumix FZ8.

Wolf Spider (Pardosa sp.)

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Pardosa sp, are also known as Thin-Legged Wolf Spiders. I find they are very common along lake shores, which is where I caught this guy. There were literally dozens of these guys running around. Very, very fast. I initially thought they were jumping spiders, because none of them ran, they all jumped in 2-3" increments. This is a male, you can tell by the large furry black palps.

Like all Wolf Spiders they are robust and agile hunters with good eyesight. Check out the eyes on this guy. Wolf spiders can be found in a wide range of habitats both coastal and inland. These include shrublands, woodland, wet coastal forest, alpine meadows, and suburban gardens. Spiderlings disperse aerially and consequently wolf spiders have wide distributions. Although some species have very specific microhabitat needs (such as stream-side gravel beds or montane herb-fields) most are wanderers without permanent homes. Some build burrows which can be opened or have a trapdoor. Arid zone species construct turrets or plug their holes with leaves and pebbles during the rainy season to protect themselves from flood waters.

Raynox DCR-150 and Raynox DCR-250, stacked and mounted on my Panasonic Lumix FZ8.

Wolf Spider (Hogna sp.)

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Hogna are a genus of Wolf Spiders with more than 200 described species. They are found on all continents except Antarctica. Two species of Hogna, Hogna carolinensis and Hogna helluo, are among the largest spiders in the US. Too bad, but this wasn't one of them.

I found this guy in my flower garden. It was pretty small, given that it's very early in the season, about what I'd expect.

You can tell this is a Hogna species because of the eye pattern. Wolf spiders are most readily identified by their eye patterns. If you look really closely you can see a small horizontal row of four eyes, then a set of two larger eyes above that row, then another set of two on top of the carapace. Thats the hallmark of a Hogna sp. spider.

Raynox DCR-150 and Raynox DCR-250, stacked and mounted on my Panasonic Lumix FZ8.