Burrowing Wolf Spider

This is the Burrowing Wolf Spider, one of the species of Geolycosa. It patiently waits at the entrance to its burrow for small insect meals to wander by. The burrow is just over one-half inch wide.

Normally this is all you see. The vibrations made by your foot steps as you approach the hole, send the spider scooting down the hole for safety.

Somewhere between a few minutes and eternity, the spider will sneak back up to the entrance. This spider must have been hungry, because it was coming back up in less than a minute.

Finally, it’s back to its ambush point. There are no web tripwires around the burrow. The spider detects its prey through vibration and sight.

You normally see spider burrows in barren areas such as this. I don’t know if this is the preferred habitat for this spider or if it’s just too difficult to see burrows when there’s a lot of vegetation.