It appears we are blessed with a plethora of "Wolf" spider species. I have a picture from last year of a small spider I thought was a Pardosa - it may be, but now I'm totally flummoxed. It looks similar to these larger types, acts in a like manner (runs in dry leaves - don't know if they vibrate their abdomens), is around as mature specimens in early spring, but is quite small.

You BG folks are patient beyond all expectations. Blundering but captivated amateurs like me truly appreciate you.

Regards,

Carol

Hi, Carol,

Yes, you're likely to see many different species and genera of wolf spiders now. They are among the most numerous ground spiders throughout the northern regions at this time of year.

Quite a few of the males vibrate their abdomens during courtship, but not all of them make an audible noise (to human ears, anyway). I watched a pair of Trochosa terricola mate yesterday (in a container on my desk), and the male periodically vibrated his abdomen but I didn't hear anything (the female of that pair is shown here: T. terricola).

Wolf spiders are a difficult group when it comes to identifying them from pictures. Even individuals of the same species can look different from each other. Here are two male Pardosa distincta I identified last season, for example, that don't look the same. I collected them on the same day and at the same place:



And the female of that species doesn't look anything like either male:



I'm glad you're collecting a few for your brother to identify. Be sure and take live pictures of each spider before putting them into alcohol, and keep records that link each specimen to its picture (I add a picture number to the specimen label that I put into the vial with the spider - only one spider per vial - and I print out a copy of the live picture and put the same number on it). That way, once they've been identified you can post the pictures with the species name and be confident you're labeling the right spider (once you put them into alcohol they will appear very different from when they were dry).

Do you know if this is the correct species? It seems the only reasonable one for my area.

There are so many species and we can't even figure out what to look at to sort them out. But you might get further comments from Mandy and others.

The only option seems to be to collect a specimen of at least a male and put it in alcohol so there's a palp that can be examined under a microscope. My brother, like you, is reluctant to ID this species without a real study of, preferably, both male and female specimens. He is not comfortable IDing from photos. I hate to do this but I'll try to collect tomorrow and take the spiders to him on the next trip in a month or so.

Regards,

Carol