Desert Wolf Spider from Australia

bugman

March 7th, 2010 at 11:31 am

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Black and yellow spider
March 7, 2010
Myself and Haylee went spider hunting during an overnight stay in the bush near Cocklebiddy in WA, Australia . We found a few of these spiders and Haylee managed to get some good pictures of one of the few that didn’t dissapear down its burrow when we approached. We can’t seem to identify it despite searching online. Any ideas? Many Thanks.
Charlie and Haylee
Cocklebiddy, WA, Australia

Desert Wolf Spider

Hi Charlie and Haylee,
This is possibly the most gorgeous Wolf Spider in the family Lycosidae we have ever seen. The arrangement of the eyes is an identifying factor, and the explanation “These spider have eight dark eyes of unequal size arranged in three rows, the first having four eyes” and a diagram are available on BugGuide.

Desert Wolf Spider

We have not had any luck with a species identification, which surprises us as this is such a unique spider. Perhaps one of our readers will have better luck and assist us with the identification.

Desert Wolf Spider

Karl finds the answer again
It is a beauty! The closest I could find was Hoggicosa (=Lycosa) bicolor, the Two-coloured or Desert Wolf Spider. There are several photos on the internet which look very similar, except that the colour is not such a vivid yellow. This may be a case of odd light conditions, regional colour variability or sexual dimorphism. It could also be a case of changing appearance with successive moults. In H. bicolor, the males apparently go from a striking two-tone appearance to totally cryptic in their final moult. I couldn’t determine if males and females look different. Here are a few links:
http://www.xs4all.nl/~ednieuw/australian/Spidaus.html
http://www.ozimages.com.au/stock/AustralianSpiders.asp
http://flickriver.com/photos/australianspiders/4100778476/
http://flickriver.com/photos/australianspiders/4100041011/
Karl

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Comments 2

kkroeker wrote:
It is a beauty! The closest I could find was Hoggicosa (=Lycosa) bicolor, the Two-coloured or Desert Wolf Spider. There are several photos on the internet which look very similar, except that the colour is not such a vivid yellow. This may be a case of odd light conditions, regional colour variability or sexual dimorphism. It could also be a case of changing appearance with successive moults. In H. bicolor, the males apparently go from a striking two-tone appearance to totally cryptic in their final moult. I couldn’t determine if males and females look different. Here are a few links:
http://www.xs4all.nl/~ednieuw/australian/Spidaus.html
http://www.ozimages.com.au/stock/AustralianSpiders.asp
http://flickriver.com/photos/australianspiders/4100778476/
http://flickriver.com/photos/australianspiders/4100041011/
Posted 07 Mar 2010 at 2:56 pm ¶
Metasolpuga wrote:
Gorgeous wolf spider!
Posted 06 Jan 2011 at 1:56 am ¶