Wolf Spiders are native to Virginia. The most common, and largest, is the Caroline Wolf Spider. The body length can reach 1 ½ inches but the big leg span of up to 4”, makes them appear much bigger. They live up to 2 years.

While they will bite if mishandled, it is only like a bee sting, and not generally poisonous to humans, except for allergies.

They are called Wolf Spiders because they do not spin webs, but run and chase their prey and jump on it to capture it. They have exceptional eyesight and can move very fast. The females carry their egg sac like a white balloon attached to the rear end of their abdomen. After the young hatch, around 150 of them, they ride on their mother’s back for a few weeks until they are large enough to fend on their own.

They are fascinating to watch. I accidentally disturbed a mother with an egg sac and the sac became detached from her. She immediately began performing a systematic search for it. She went in a circle, and as she completed each circuit, she moved outward a couple inches and made another circle. She eventually spotted it visually, about a foot from where she started searching, and ran straight to it and reattached it to her abdomen.

Another time I saw a female with the young on her back. She was resting in the leaf litter in the woods. Most of the young were off of her and spread out in a circle around her, doing their own hunting. As I tried to get a little closer, the mom tensed to prepare to run. And all the young ones ran to climb back up onto her.

‍ ‍For a deeper dive into Carolina Wolf Spider, click this link     Wikipedia