Spider, Wolf

The Wolf Spider is a predatory arachnid that does not rely on spinning webs to catch its prey. Instead, it relies on camouflage and lightning-fast reflexes to pounce upon, disable, and dispatch its meals. Despite the name, which suggests a pack-tactic predator, they are solitary and silent hunters. The common variety feeds primarily on insects or smaller spiders, but the giant variety considers creatures like squirrels, rabbits, foxes, raccoons, and even smaller Folk to be potential prey.

Most spiders have poor eyesight, relying on vibrations in their webs to sense prey. Not so the Wolf Spiders, whose eight eyes provide it with excellent eyesight. The four larger eyes are reflective, and thus seem to glow when struck with torch or lantern light at night. Their bodies are lean and angular, not rounded as most spinning spiders. Their mottled brown color allows them to blend in with the typical forest floor. Like all spiders, they are capable of producing a venom to slow or immobilize their prey.

While they do not spin webs, Wolf Spiders, like all spiders, can produce silk. Females use it exclusively to attach egg sacs to their abdomens. Wolf Spider females not only carry unhatched eggs with them to keep them safe, the spiderlings that hatch from these eggs continue to ride the mother's back for a time until they are large enough to fend for themselves.

Name

Wolf Spider

Varieties

Common - 1/2in (1cm) long
Giant - 2ft (60cm) long

Habitat

Wolf Spiders can be found in any temperate or tropical rural or urban. Giant varieties are rare in urban settings.

OSR-compliant Common Wolf Spider

OSR-compliant Common Wolf Spider Swarm

OSR-compliant Giant Wolf Spider