Spider ID Indiana

[BridgetW]

Hello,

While working outside yesterday, May 20th, these two spiders came running across the driveway behind my house. We live in a rural area in Sellersburg, IN which is just north of Louisville, KY. I believe the smaller spider is a wolf spider and we have seen several of those that vary in size. The larger, darker spider is the one I'm curious about. I wasn't sure if it was a different type of wolf spider or something else entirely. It's body was about an inch long.

Thanks for any help you can give.

[Ungoliant]

Nice pictures!

I can't see all of the eyes, but the larger spider looks like the six-spotted fishing spider (Dolomedes triton), a member of the nursery web family (Pisauridae). This species is named for the six black spots that can be found on its sternum, the underside of its cephalothorax (the first body segment). However, these spiders are normally found near water. Do you live near water?

Pirate wolf spiders (family Lycosidae, genus Pirata) can have similar markings on their abdomens, but I don't know if they get that big. According to BugGuide, the carapace of Pirata/Piratula has dark markings, whereas D. triton's carapace is more uniformly colored.

There are no nursery web spiders or wolf spiders that are considered dangerously venomous, in case you were wondering.

[BridgetW]

I do agree that it does look more like the six-spotted fishing spider though it was pretty dark in color as the photo shows. We don't necessarily live by a large body of water, however we have acreage that includes a creek and small pond. It is possible though, because this guy was found running from an area where we are digging a small drainage ditch behind our home. The ditch was partially dug and was holding water so it is possible the spider was there. The water was sitting long enough to have tadpoles and other larvae in it. Thank you for your input.

[Whitlock]

I'm really curious Bridget, did you find these two like this, or did you put them together for the picture? I agree the larger one looks like a D. triton, I actually made the mistake of thinking a Pirate Wolf was a D. triton, the difference was clear once I found the triton, size for one thing.

The smaller one reminds me of a Hogna sp. wolf spider though (though the legs seem a little long and thin compared to other images on the bug guide), and I'm really curious as to why these two were so near each other, I'd have figured they would either be running from each other or facing off.

[BridgetW]

Yes, we found them like this although I must mention that we were actively digging a ditch along side the driveway and they were running from the disturbance. They were just stopped on the driveway and we saw them and snapped a few pictures. Once we finished with the photo shoot (which they posed very nicely for), I scooted around some of the rocks and they both hurried off in different directions.

In my opinion, the smaller one looked almost like a juvenile wolf spider, not really as big as they get around our house. We have a lot of wolf spiders because we have a large wooded/grassy area. It's very common to see several of them, in fact I came across probably 20 baby wolf spiders while I was weeding an overgrown flower bed. The larger one (D. triton) was a bit bigger and colored differently than we usually see the wolf spiders.

[Mandy]

Very nice image, Bridget! I agree with everyone else; one female Dolomedes triton and one male Hogna (a type of wolf spider).