#grass spider

[onenicebugperday]

Would it be possible to list some of the general differences between wolf and grass spiders? Thank you!

Sure! Grass spiders are funnel weavers, so you will often find them in funnel-like webs, usually with a big flat sheet of web around it. I see them often on bushes or in corners of siding and windows on houses. And of course over grass. Here's a pic of what you'd commonly see:

Agelenopsis sp. photo by kaden_slone04

Wolf spiders on the other hand are active hunters, so you'd more often see them just running around freely or maybe in a burrow in the ground. They're a common sight in gardens, sometimes females carrying a little white egg sac from her abdomen.

Grass spiders and wolf spiders can look sort of similar, but they're easy to distinguish from one another with a few key features: the eyes and the spinnerets.

Of course there are a bunch of different species with lots of different markings so this is a generalization, but I'll choose two of the more common wolf spiders in the US, the rabid wolf, Rabidosa rabida, and Tigrosa annexa, which as far as I know has no common name. For grass spiders it can be difficult to determine exact species from photos so I'll just use the Agelenopsis genus.

The easiest way to ID wolves is with their eyes! They have 8, with 4 on the bottom row, two great big forward facing eyes in the middle, and then two on top of their head:

Rabidosa rabida photo by tshahan

And from above:

Tigrosa annexa photo by wildcarrot

The eyes are almost always very obvious and easy to spot.

Grass spiders have two eyes on the bottom row, four in the middle, and two on top. The two center eyes in the middle row are not as exaggerated as the two large wolf eyes. Some views of their eyes:

Agelenopsis sp. photos by jasonjdking and tmurray74

Grass spiders also have long, visible spinnerets sticking off the end of the abdomen:

Agelenopsis sp. photo by littlelegofan

Wolves do have spinnerets, but they're not as long and pointy:

R. rabida by schoenitz and T. annexa by wendybirdsbyrv

Hopefully that's helpful!

[fantabulisticity]

I FOUND A CHONKER TODAY and she was too cold to hang onto my hand properly 😅

[speakingofnature]

Grass Spider

Despite the appearance of its web, this Grass Spider is highly efficient in capturing prey. It waits at the entrance of its home for a victim to become jeopardized by the web, which allows the spider to race out and capture the unsuspecting target.

[jupiterswasphouse]

[PHOTOS TAKEN: MAY 8TH, 2023 | Image IDs: Two photos of a grass/funnel weaver spider in a tightly woven web, between blades of grass, with a brown leaf above it /End ID.]

[arachnophanatic]

FUNNEL WEAVERS (Angelenidae): Agelenopsis sp., “American grass spider”

Often mistaken for wolf spiders, and can grow to a similar size. The easiest difference to spot is the long spinnerets, which the wolfs don’t have. (Eyes are different too, just harder to see usually)

[wrongfourtytwo]

CAN SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME IF THIS IS A WOLF OR GRASS SPIDER???? PLEASE. He’s the size of a dime btw

[thesingingbullfrog]

[noir-poetography]

Grass Spider on the Rock

© 2023, James Blatter

[daughterofchaos]

the grass spiders are testing my bravery this summer. I caught and released one last night and a second one appeared today but snuck off.

[arcticarthropod]

A friend of some kind

[onenicebugperday]

@moonshy submitted: I've been seeing quite a lot of these spideys recently and finally managed to get one in good enough shape to pin (amateurly)! I think I've narrowed down ID to the Agelenopsis genus, but I'd love if someone could help me get an exact match [loc: Willamette Valley, Oregon, USA] size 00 pins, limbs are spread roughly the width of a quarter

Yes, definitely Agelenopsis, but it can be difficult and sometimes impossible to determine species without looking at their lil spider genitals, and that's definitely beyond my skill. Very nice job pinning, though!

[fantabulisticity]

Another Friend! These are one of my very favorite spiders 😊

[skeletorswaifu]

AH!! Some little grass spider moved into my fairy house 🥰🕷️

It's so cute I wanna die!!

[jupiterswasphouse]

[PHOTO TAKEN: JUNE 7TH, 2023 | Image ID: A photo of a brown funnel weaver spider on the side of a dirty white metal building /End ID.]

[shownumetal]

spider on my porch

[developingnaturegallery]

From bottom left to right, then the top photograph. Two pictures of nursery web spiders, two fishing spiders, a running crab spider and a grass spider. You can find these photographs in the ARACHNIDS folder at Developing Nature Gallery online print shop. Have a good night!