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Sticker of Carolina wolf spider
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Carolina wolf spider

Hogna carolinensis
Eats: Other bugs and small animalsSpidersGardens and meadows8 legsNot an insect, but a bug cousin

The Carolina wolf spider is the biggest wolf spider in North America. It is mottled brown with a dark belly. It does not make a web to catch food. It lives in a burrow and jumps out to grab insects that walk past.

Fun fact: spiders are not insects. Insects have six legs, spiders have eight. Everyone calls them bugs anyway!
Lives in
Across much of North America, in open, flat places and deserts
Length
1.8 to 3.5 cm (0.71 to 1.4 in)
Top speed
about 3.4 km/h (2.1 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
What does it eat?
It eats grasshoppers, crickets, cockroaches and other small creatures. It has even been seen catching a baby gecko.
For real!Photo of Carolina wolf spider
Picture by blazeclaw. CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Carolina wolf spider about 3.5 cm long (1.4 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)A banana about 18 cm (7.1 in)
as long as 6 grains of rice in a rowcould run across a dinner table in 1.1 secondsmoves 27 times its own body length every second

How big is Carolina wolf spider compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

The mother carries her round egg sac with her everywhere until the babies hatch.

2

Its eyes shine when you point a torch at it at night.

3

It builds a little tower of sticks, grass, pebbles and mud around the door of its burrow.

4

Its burrow can be 30 centimetres deep and is about 4 degrees cooler than the ground outside.

5

Males have orange colour on their sides.

you asked

Most asked questions about Carolina wolf spider

?How big is the Carolina wolf spider?

Females are 2.2 to 3.5 centimetres long. Males are smaller, about 2 centimetres.

?Does the Carolina wolf spider make a web?

No. It catches food by waiting at the edge of its burrow and pouncing.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Hogna carolinensis
Group
Spiders
Family
Lycosidae
Classification
Arachnida > Araneae > Lycosidae
Lives on
North America
Also known as
Giant wolf spider

Where the facts come from

  1. Hogna carolinensis (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by blazeclaw. CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

More from the same group: Spiders

Also at home here: Gardens and meadows