Spider Chase

by Eric Neubauer

If you happen to be in Dickens, TX, and head west on US 82 toward Crosbyton, you will soon find yourself crossing the White River, where there is a highway rest area. This is no ordinary rest stop, because it’s connected with historic Silver Falls Park. A series of steps lead down to the White River from the parking area. About two-thirds of the way down there is a font off to the right with a dribbling pipe sticking out from the back wall. The font has settled a bit, and a trickle of water
flows across the bottom and down into a crack at the back.

I revisit the park periodically because someone else saw some large, unidentified wolf spiders there years ago. On May 28, I made another stop. I couldn’t use my headlamp until 9 PM because of the late sunset and then spent a futile hour looking for something interesting on both sides of the river. About a half dozen fireflies in one dark corner was the best I could find. Coming back up the steps while planning to leave, I looked to the left and saw a large wolf spider on the near rim of the font. I went closer and could see it was just what I wanted, and that it was a female with a lumpy abdomen. I tried to catch her, and she went down the inside wall to the back of the bottom. I stepped into the font and tried again. She went into the crack, and all I got for my trouble was some drips of water on my back and shoulders. It was obviously hopeless, so I went up the rest of the steps and to my car. Then I had to
go back just in case. There she was on the far side of the font. I knew she’d be heading for the crack at the bottom again and was able to head her off into another crack between the side and the back. It took a while but eventually I was able to gently pry her out with a small stalk of something. Then I got her into a container and took her to be photographed.

She had lost two of her right legs and only had a few spiderlings left, possibly the results of a single earlier incident. Whatever it was, it all had happened before I started chasing her. She turned out to be a Gladicosa gulosa, the first I ever encountered in person.

Wolf spider behavior is pretty easy to understand. When thinking with their stomachs, they jump on anything that moves. Faster than can be seen, they decide if it’s food than can be subdued or something else that isn’t. If the latter, they immediately disengage and prepare to run long before even considering taking a bite. Subduction begins by pinning its prey against its sternum with as may legs as necessary. A spider may end up on its back so it can use all 8. Somehow they can flip themselves back upright while holding prey. Only then does it grasp the prey with chelicerae and inject venom. When not thinking with their stomachs, various evasive maneuvers are used. This time, the female was doing all she could to run off with her remaining spiderlings. After photos I released her on the far rim of the font. She immediately ran into the font and partway down the side as if she knew exactly where she was.