Wolf Spider Identification: Eyes, Size, Look-Alikes

You identify a wolf spider by its eyes: a row of four small eyes across the front of the face, with a large middle pair and a widely spaced rear pair above them (UC IPM). Three more checks confirm it:

• No web. Wolf spiders roam and hunt on the ground, mostly at night (Oregon State University Extension). A spider sitting in a web is something else.
• Hairy, brown to grey body with stripes. Many have radiating lines on the front body section and scroll-like patterns on the abdomen (Australian Museum).
• Egg sac on the back end. Females carry a round, white, papery egg sac attached to the spinnerets at the tip of the abdomen (Missouri Department of Conservation; Australian Museum).
• Babies on the back. After hatching, the spiderlings ride on the mother's back for up to two weeks or more (Missouri Department of Conservation).

Wolf spiders see well at night, and their eyes reflect light back when you shine a flashlight at them (Missouri Department of Conservation). Hold a torch at eye level across a lawn or floor after dark: small sparkles of reflected light at ground level are often wolf spiders. For a photo, shoot the face straight on so the front row of four small eyes and the two large eyes above it are both visible; that single view separates a wolf spider from almost every look-alike.

• Fishing spiders: carry the egg sac in their jaws instead of on the spinnerets, swim and walk on water, and do not carry young on their backs (Missouri Department of Conservation).
• Nursery web spiders: also large, brown ground-level hunters, but they do not carry egg sacs and young on the body the way wolf spiders do (Missouri Department of Conservation).
• Grass spiders and other funnel weavers: they sit in flat sheet webs with a funnel hole, have long spinnerets easily seen from above (Missouri Department of Conservation), and have six or eight eyes of about the same size in two rows (UC IPM).
• Jumping spiders: the two centre eyes of the top row are enlarged, but they lack the row of four small eyes below (Missouri Department of Conservation).
• Brown recluse: has a violin-shaped mark behind the head, which wolf spiders lack (Oregon State University Extension). See brown recluse bites.

Look at where it is and whether there is a web. The common house spider builds a messy cobweb in room corners and windows and usually stays in it; its fangs are too short to pierce skin in most cases (UC IPM). A wolf spider has no web and runs across floors, along baseboards and in garages. Size helps too: wolf spiders in North America are 1/4 to 1 inch in body length (Missouri Department of Conservation), and the eye pattern above settles any doubt. For other house spiders, see spiders.

Oregon State University Extension says wolf spiders come indoors in autumn looking for warmth and turn up near doors, windows, house plants, basements and garages. They are shy and run away when disturbed. A single one is not a sign of an infestation. To move it out, UC IPM suggests putting a jar over it, sliding a piece of paper underneath and releasing it outdoors; vacuuming also works. To keep them out, seal cracks in the foundation and gaps around windows and doors (UC IPM).

Wolf spiders hunt other small animals, and they are themselves food for small lizards, shrews, turkeys and many other birds (Missouri Department of Conservation). A female you see may be carrying her egg sac or her young on her back (Missouri Department of Conservation), so catching and releasing her with a jar deals with all of them at once, without a mess on the floor.

Wolf spiders bite only if mishandled or trapped against the skin. Penn State Extension describes initial pain and redness with the potential for some local swelling and notes that no serious medical consequences have been recorded; the Missouri Department of Conservation calls North American wolf spider bites harmless. The Australian Museum says symptoms are usually minor and local, and less often include swelling, lasting pain, dizziness, a fast pulse or nausea; seek medical attention if symptoms persist. See spider bites.

Research and drafting for this page used AI assistance. Every figure, date and quotation was then checked line by line against the sources listed at the bottom of the page, each of which was opened while writing. Nothing here is a diagnosis. If a bite, sting or contact with an insect is followed by trouble breathing, swelling of the face or throat, spreading redness, fever or any symptom that worries you, get medical care; in the United States Poison Help (1-800-222-1222) is free and open 24 hours a day.