The Spiders in Your House - The Rustic Wolf Spider

Meet Trochosa ruricola, the Rustic Wolf Spider. In this video we'll do a deep dive on the species, while also exploring the general ecology of wolf spiders as a family (Lycosidae). We'll look at their hunting behaviour, reproduction, intelligence, and of course, how you can expect them to behave if you find them in your house.

For more wolf spider awesomeness, check out the Hebets Lab's YouTube channel. And a big thankyou to Dr. Hebets for contributing some photos and video footage from her own research for this video!
   / @eileenhebets8467  

Unless otherwise credited, all photos and video herein are my own.

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Chapters
0:00 Introduction
2:25 The Scary Search Results
5:06 First Description, and Identification
12:13 Range & Distribution
13:39 In Your House
15:48 Biteyness and Bite Effects
17:46 The Cheese Test
21:55 Hunting Behaviour
22:31 Wolf Spider Eyes
24:38 Other Senses and Prey Capture Mechanisms
28:58 Courtship and Reproduction: The Lycosid Dating Scene
39:29 Intelligence




Creative Commons licenses used:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...

References

Bristowe WS (1958). The World of Spiders. Collins

Eggs B, Wolff JO, Kuhn-Nentwig L, Gorb SN, Nentwig W (2015). Hunting Without a Web: How Lycosoid Spiders Subdue their Prey. Ethology 121(12):1166-77.

Engelhardt W (1965). Die Mitteleuropaischen arten der gattung Trochosa C. L. Koch, 1848 (Araneae, Lycosidae). Morphologie, Chemotaxonomie, Biologie, Autökologie. Zeitschrift für Morphologie und Ökologie der Tiere, 54(3), 219-392.

Foelix R (2011). Biology of Spiders. Oxford University Press.

Hebets E, Uetz GW (1999). Female responses to isolated signals from multimodal male courtship displays in the wolf spider genus Schizocosa (Araneae: Lycosidae). Eileen Hebets Publications 26. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/biosci...

Hebets E, Uetz GW (2000). Leg ornamentation and the efficacy of courtship display in four species of wolf spider (Araneae: Lycosidae). Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 47:280-286.

Hebets E (2008). Seismic signal dominance in the multimodal courtship display of the wolf spider Schizocosa stridulans Stratton 1991 (2008). Behavioural Ecology. 2008 Nov 1;19(6):1250-7.

Isbister GK, Framenau VW (2004). Australian wolf spider bites (Lycosidae): clinical effects and influence of species on bite circumstances. Journal of Toxicology: Clinical Toxicology 42(2): 153-161.

Lalonge S, Redner J, Coderre D (1997). First Canadian Records of Trochosa ruricola (DeGeer), Ostearious melanopygus (O. Pickard-Cambridge), and Dictyna Decaprini Kaston (Araneae: Lycosidae, Linyphiidae, Dictynidae, respectively). The Canadian Entomologist 129: 371-372. https://doi.org/10.4039/Ent29371-2

Land MF (1985). The Morphology and Optics of Spider Eyes. in Neurobiology of Arachnids (pp. 53-78). Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg.

Nentwig W, Gnädinger M, Fuchs J, Ceschi A (2013). A two year study of verified spider bites in Switzerland and a review of the European spider bite literature. Toxicon 73:104-110 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.toxicon.201...

Punzo F (2000). An Experimental Analysis of Maze Learning in the Wolf Spider, Trochosa parthenus (Araneae: Lycosidae). Florida Scientist 63(3): 155-159.

Rash LD, King RG, Hodgson WC (1998). Evidence that histamine is the principal pharmacological component of venom from an Australian wolf spider (Lycosa godeffroyi). Toxicon 36(2): 367-375.

Ribeiro LA, Jorge MT, Piesco RV, de Andrade Nishioka S (1990). Wolf spider bites in Sao Paulo, Brazil: a clinical and epidemiological study of 515 cases. Toxicon 28(6):715-717.

Rose, S (2022). Spiders of North America. Princeton University Press.