A Field Wolf Spider near Walnut Creek, Austin, Texas

A Field Wolf Spider near Walnut Creek, Austin, Texas
— BugsInTheNews is a VIEWER-PARTICIPANT WEBSITE. This article by Jerry Cates and Dave R., first published on 14 February 2011, was revised last on 7 July 2012. © Bugsinthenews Vol. 12:02(10) ———————————- The field wolf spider (Hogna lenta) was first described in 1844 by the French American arachnologist Nicholas Marcellus Hentz. His description was penned ...

Wolf Spiders in Texas

Wolf Spiders in Texas
— BugsInTheNews is a VIEWER-PARTICIPANT WEBSITE. This article by Jerry Cates, Marvin W. (Kempner, TX), and Graham M. (East Texas), first published on 7 February 2011, was revised last on 7 July 2012. © Bugsinthenews Vol. 12:02(06) —————————— The wolf spider, in the Lycosidae family, is distributed worldwide, and is comprised of  more than 100 ...

A Giant Wolf Spider from Lufkin, Texas

A Giant Wolf Spider from Lufkin, Texas
— BugsInTheNews is a VIEWER-PARTICIPANT WEBSITE. This article by Jerry Cates and Bernard H., first published on 29 January 2011, was revised last on 7 July 2012. © Bugsinthenews Vol. 12:01(10) —————————— The giant wolf spider (Hogna carolinensis) is the largest of our wolf spiders. Females typically measure 22-35 mm (0.87-1.4 inches); males are smaller, ...

Trapdoor Spiders in Texas

Trapdoor Spiders in Texas
— BugsInTheNews is a VIEWER-PARTICIPANT WEBSITE. This article by Jerry Cates, first published on 13 January 2011, was revised last on 10 January 2013. © Bugsinthenews Vol. 12:01(06) —————————— Of 16 families presently recognized in the infraorder Mygalomorphae, many are comprised strictly of trapdoor spiders. Their familial and generic names are long and difficult to ...

Trapdoor Spiders in North America

Trapdoor Spiders in North America
— BugsInTheNews is a VIEWER-PARTICIPANT WEBSITE. This article by Jerry Cates, first published on 13 January 2011, was revised last on 9 January 2013. © Bugsinthenews Vol. 12:01(05) —————————— Presently, sixteen families are recognized within the infraorder Mygalomorphae. Many are fossorial (adapted to digging and life underground) trapdoor spiders. The names attached to these families ...

Southern House Spiders in Texas

Southern House Spiders in Texas
— BugsInTheNews is a VIEWER-PARTICIPANT WEBSITE. This article by Jerry Cates, first published in January 1999, was revised last on 29 July 2012. © Bugsinthenews Vol. 01:01 —————————— The southern house spider (Kukulcania hibernalis) was first described in 1842 by the French-American arachnologist Nicholas Marcellus Hentz, M. D. In the 1875 book The Spiders of ...

A Cottonwood Borer from Round Rock, Texas

A Cottonwood Borer from Round Rock, Texas
— BugsInTheNews is a VIEWER-PARTICIPANT WEBSITE. This article by Jerry Cates, with contributions from Jean Cochran, first published in June 2001, was revised last on 7 July 2012. © Bugsinthenews Vol. 02:06 —————————— The cottonwood borer (Plectrodera scalator) was frst described by the Danish zoologist Johan Christian Fabricius (1745-1805). The generic name, Plectrodera, derives from ...

A Spitting spider from North Austin, Texas

A Spitting spider from North Austin, Texas
— BugsInTheNews is a VIEWER-PARTICIPANT WEBSITE. This article by Jerry Cates and Laura, first published in December 2008, was revised last on 27 November 2012. © Bugsinthenews Vol. 09:12 —————————— A total of five genera and 228 species of spitting spiders, all in the Scytodidae family (first described by the British naturalist John Blackwall, in ...

A Male Trapdoor Spider from Austin, Texas

A Male Trapdoor Spider from Austin, Texas
— BugsInTheNews is a VIEWER-PARTICIPANT WEBSITE. This article by Jerry Cates and Stacey, first published on 9 January 2011, was revised last on 10 January 2013. © Bugsinthenews Vol. 12:01(04) —————————— Anne, Stacey’s mother-in-law, sent the following email on 9 January 2011: Hi This spider was in my daughter’s driveway in Austin Texas. She thinks ...

Spider Scopulae

— BugsInTheNews is a VIEWER-PARTICIPANT WEBSITE. This article by Jerry Cates, first published on 3 January 2011, was revised last on 7 July 2012. © Bugsinthenews Vol. 12:01(03) —————————— The scopulae (from the Latin words scopa, “twigs, broom, brush”, and scopula, “a small brush”) of a spider consist of  small, dense tufts of fine hairs ...