Tarantula wolf spider
The tarantula wolf spider is a big, hairy spider from southern Europe. It was the very first spider ever called a tarantula. It lives in a burrow in the ground and waits at the door at night for something to walk past.
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Fun facts
The mother carries her egg sac, with more than 100 eggs, stuck to the back of her body.
After the babies hatch, they ride around on their mother's back until they are big enough to live alone.
Females can live four years or more, and males about two.
It has good eyes, so it usually sees people coming and runs away.
In winter it sleeps in its burrow.
Most asked questions about Tarantula wolf spider
?How big is a tarantula wolf spider?
Females are up to about 3 centimetres long, and males about 2 centimetres.
?Is it the same as the big hairy tarantulas?
No. The big hairy spiders we call tarantulas today belong to a different family. This spider had the name first.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Lycosa tarantula
- Named by
- Linnaeus, 1758
- Group
- Spiders
- Family
- Lycosidae
- Classification
- Arachnida > Araneae > Lycosidae
- Lives on
- Europe
- Also known as
- Tarantula
Where the facts come from
- Lycosa tarantula (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by João Coelho. CC BY 2.0, 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 hello@bugwiki.app and we will fix it.
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