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wolf spider

wolf spider (Schizocosa mccooki)
Photo © Hank Guarisco

Features and Behaviors

FEATURES
This wolf spider species varies in total body length from about four-tenths of an inch to slightly more than one-half inch in the male and nearly an inch in the female. The body color is gray or light brown with two dark bands on the cephalothorax and a dark oval-shaped mark on the abdomen. There is a light band on each side of the oval-shaped mark and white dots outside the bands. The male has a dark-brown tip on each front leg.

BEHAVIORS
Males are active from June through July while females can be found from June through August. These spiders may dig a burrow.

Illinois Range

Taxonomy

​Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Family: Lycosidae

Illinois Status: common, native