Rewilding My Lot

Rabid Wolf Spiders (Rabidosa rabida) are common here. Their name sounds alarming, but spiders cannot carry rabies and therefore cannot transmit it. The “rabid” part of their name is thought to derive from its rapid, erratic movement.

Here are two of them that I found in my Frogfruit (Phyla nodiflora).

Rabid Wolf Spiders don’t build webs, but rather hunt their prey at night by chasing them and then wrapping them in silk.

On a “walk with a naturalist” last year, I learned that Wolf Spiders can be located in the dark by holding a flashlight between your eyes and then scanning to see little bright reflections (single or double). Those reflections are the spider eyes, and if you move closer you can usually locate the spider itself.

This trick only works if you hold the flashlight at eye level, and so I thought it would probably be impossible to photograph this phenomenon. Nevertheless, I thought I’d give it a go. I wore a headlamp close to eye level, but of course if I held the camera at the same height, it blocked the light. I experimented with holding the camera just above or below the light, and did manage to capture one poor photograph. I’ve ringed in red the area where there was a spider eye reflection. They’re much brighter in real life.