These are medium to large spiders which are found running on the ground.
The females carry their egg-sacs attached to the spinners (this can
be seen in the picture above).There are ten genera of Lycosidae
of which the Pardosa, pictured above, are the most widespread. Unlike
most other spiders the Pardosa spp are quite gregarious, and are often
found in some numbers. While they will avoid other similarly sized spiders,
they will attack and devour small immatures of their own species. They
are known as Wolf Spiders because it was thought that they hunted in
packs and ran down their prey. This idea was reinforced because it was
known that their eyesight was better than average for their order. Their
prey includes smaller animals such a springtails and small flies.
The female of the above species can grow to a size of
6 mm with the male being 5 mm. Their courtship is very complex and is
not covered here. Mostly found at woodland edges or in sunny places
in the woods.
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