Do spiders overwinter as adults? Most of the crawling creatures that I tend to spot this early in the spring are quite small, so it was a little surprising to spot several large Wolf Spiders ( probably Tigrosa georgicola) on Monday at Prince William Forest Park. I was pretty sure these spiders had not hatched recently, so I did a little research and learned that “a surprisingly large number of spider species overwinter as adults or immatures, forsaking the cozy shelter of an egg sac in which to endure the harsh, cold extremes,” according to a blog posting by Bug Eric entitled Spider Sunday: Spring Spiders.
The spider in the first photo was actively crawling about in the leaf litter when I first spotted it, probably searching for prey, given that wolf spiders do not spin webs and instead are opportunistic hunters. The second spider was scurrying down a trail at a surprisingly fast pace when it paused for a moment to let me capture an image.
I encourage you to click on the photos to get a closer look at the fascinating details of these spiders, including their multiple eyes and the spiky hairs on their legs.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Such fun to spot these wolf spiders. We found one in our house years ago carrying her babies on her back. The children & I caught her (and the babies) in a glass canning jar, and put them out back in our woods. 😂
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I have read descriptions and seen photos of wolf spiders with babies, but have never seen one in person. What a delight it must have been for your and the children to rescue and relocate this one.
Great photos, Mike.
Nice captures and thank for this information.
Holy cow! These photos are fantastic! Wonderful to see them enlarged, too, to see their markings and the thin blue lines. Thanks so much, Mike.
Thanks, Jet. It has been so much fun to be reintroduced to my beloved macro lenses after a winter of disuse. The world is so full of tiny details, waiting to be revealed. 🙂
Wonderful pictures but know that I’ve seen their multiple eyes, I’m even more freak out about spiders! LOL
Nice Mike!great images!
Nice shots so early in the year, Mike. Eirc is a great source for all things insect. I got to spend a few weeks with him here in Amherst while he worked at UMass identifying species netted by researchers several years ago. His book Kauffman’s Field Guide to the Insects of North America is my go to and he has published two others Insects Did It First and Wasps.
I haven’t started splitting next year’s firewood yet, but when I do I am sure I will find lots of wolf spiders in there. When I move the wood closer to the splitter I often have to dump a couple out that hitched a ride in the wheelbarrow. 🙂
Boy do I wish WP offered us the opportunity to edit a comment. Of course it should be “Eric”. 😦
Thanks. That is what I figured. I used to be able to easily edit your comment from my end, but method no longer works–WordPress is becoming more and more user-unfriendly from my perspective.
Thanks, Steve. I can usually depend on seeing certain species a month or so before you did. The last two days we have spent a good amount of time in the 30’s, a reminder that warm weather is not a given this early in the spring. I must confess that I have a lot more reference material on dragonflies than I do on spiders–thanks for sharing the info on the book that you use.
Good pictures! Great the second one paused for you!!
Thanks, Molly.