Swimming Wolf Spiders
July 15, 2010
We have three large wolf spiders which hang out at pool’s edge during the day (in the shade), but at night are frequently on top of the water. They can travel rather quickly, and actually “hop” across the surface when they really want to move. I know you are usually reluctant to ID genus, but I was curious about the water activities of these Lycosids, and thought you might give it a shot.
Thanks,
Moose
Las Vegas, NV
Hi Moose,
As you have indicated, we do not feel comfortable identifying many spiders, including Wolf Spiders, to the genus level. We hope that posting your letter and excellent photos will prompt any spider experts in our reading audience to give it a shot.
It would be easier to determine the family if the face, particularly the eyes, were more distinguishable, but I think this may be a Nursery Web Spider (Pisauridae). It looks a lot like Tinus peregrinus which ranges from southwestern USA, including Nevada, to northern Mexico and is commonly associated with water. K
http://www.flickr.com/photos/33119087@N02/3336286273/
http://bugguide.net/node/view/257437/bgpage
Thanks so much for your input Karl. I thought this might be a Nursery Web Spider, but the Nevada location did not really make sense.