Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 07/15/2013 - 17:16
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Predatory Spiders in the Arctic Food Web 2013

Hi Nell,

I am not a big fan of the spider, any spider. However, I enjoy learning about all living creatures. I was always under the impression that the wolf spider was pretty large in size, larger than the average house spider. Do the wolf spider differ in size due to the region in which they live? Is size an adaptation that the wolf spider has develop in various regions for survival?

Christal James-Walker Expedition Green MSI Teacher Workshop

Tue, 07/16/2013 - 23:00

Nell Kemp

Hi Christal,
You are absolutely correct that the wolf spiders vary in size by region. I would assume that the temperature is a limiting factor for body size of the Arcitc wolf spider - most of the invertebrates here are pretty small. Actually, besides bears and caribou, a lot of the animals here are pretty small - the ground squirrel, vole, and fox aren't that big!