Identification of Wolf Spiders (Lycosidae)
Check Volker Framenau's Flickr photographic collection of life wolf spiders for an identification of common species!
Australian Wolf Spiders belong to one of four subfamilies: Zoicinae, Venoniinae, Artoriinae and Lycosinae. Whereas the first three are taxonomically fairly well known, the identification of the Lycosinae, the most specios of all Australian lycosid subfamilies, remains difficult. Keys to Australian subfamilies of wolf spiders or to the genera within each subfamily do not exist, but is in preparation by V.W. Framenau of the Western Australian Museum.
Many wolf spiders of Australia have not been illustrated since their original description, however, the illustrations of these descriptions and additional information on Australian wolf spiders is available online.
The following publications help to identify those Australian wolf spiders which have recently been revised and of which the generic placement represents phylogenetic relationships. Most other currently described species of Australian wolf spiders are placed in wrong genera (e.g. Lycosa, Trochosa, or Allocosa) and recent revisions do not exist. For illustrations of these species, the reader is referred to The Wolf Spiders of Australia.
Zoicinae |
(Very small spiders, i.e. less than 2mm in length, uniformly light brown in colouration; known from tropical Australia only.) |
Zoica |
- McKay, R. J. (1979). The wolf spiders of Australia (Araneae: Lycosidae): 10. A new species of the genus Flanona. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 19, 231-235. - Lehtinen, P. T. & Hippa, H. (1979). Spiders of the Oriental-Australian region I. Lycosidae: Venoniinae and Zoicinae. Annales Zoologici Fennici 16, 1-22. |
Venoniinae |
(Small to medium sized spiders with elongated dark body and long posterior spinnerets (Venonia and Anomalosa) or male with pointed apical apophysis on palea of male pedipalp.) |
Venonia |
Yoo, J.-S. & Framenau, V. W. 2006. Systematics and biogeography of the sheet-web building wolf spider genus Venonia (Araneae, Lycosidae). Invertebrate Systematics 20, 675-712.
|
Anomalosa |
Framenau, V. W. 2006. Revision of the Australian wolf spider genus Anomalosa Roewer, 1960 (Araneae, Lycosidae). Zootaxa 1304, 1-20.
|
Allotrochosina |
- Vink, C.J. 2001. A revision of the genus Allotrochosina Roewer (Lycosidae: Araneae). Invertebrate Taxonomy 15: 461-466. - Framenau, V. W. (in press). A new species in the wolf spider genus Allotrochosina from New South Wales (Australia)(Araneae, Lycosidae). Journal of Arachnology. |
Artoriinae |
(Small to median sized spiders, abdomen with light longitudinal cardiac mark on anterior half of abdomen; tegular apophysis of male pedipalp in longitudinal direction of pedipalp, its base generally narrower than tip.) |
Artoria |
- Framenau, V. W. 2002. Review of the wolf spider genus Artoria Thorell. Invertebrate Systematics 16: 209-235.
- Framenau, V. W. 2005. The wolf spider genus Artoria Thorell (Araneae, Lycosidae) in Australia: new synonyms and generic transfers. Records of the Western Australian Museum 22: 265-292. - Framenau, V. W. & Hebets, E. A. 2007. A review of leg ornamentation in male wolf spiders, with the description of a new species from Australia, Artoria schizocoides (Araneae, Lycosidae). Journal of Arachnology 35, 89-101. |
Artoriopsis |
Framenau, V. W. 2007. Revision of the new Australian genus Artoriopsis in a new subfamily of wolf spiders, Artoriinae (Araneae: Lycosidae). Zootaxa 1391, 1-34.
|
Diahogna |
Framenau, V. W. 2006. Revision of the wolf spider genus Diahogna Roewer, 1960 (Araneae, Lycosidae). Journal of Natural History 40: 273-292.
|
Tetralycosa |
- Framenau, V. W., Gotch, T.B. and Austin, A.D. 2006. The wolf spiders of artesian springs in arid South Australia, with a revalidation of Tetralycosa (Araneae, Lycosidae). Journal of Arachnology 34, 1-36. - McKay, R. J. (1976). The wolf spiders of Australia (Araneae: Lycosidae): 8. Two new species inhabiting salt lakes of Western Australia. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 17, 417-423. (Tetralycosa alteripa) |
Lycosinae |
(Median sized to very large wolf spiders of very variable colouration; tegular apophysis of male pedipalp points laterally and is generally wider at its base than at its tip; median septum of female epigyne variable, but often inverted T-shaped.) |
Clade 1 |
(Males with tubercle on the outer edge of their fangs.) |
Venatrix |
- Framenau, V. W. & Vink, C. J. 2001. Revision of the wolf spider genus Venatrix Roewer. Invertebrate Taxonomy 15: 927-970. - Framenau, V. W. 2006. The wolf spider genus Venatrix Roewer (Araneae, Lycosidae) in Australia: new species, synonymies and generic transfers. Records of the Western Australian Museum 23, 145-166. |
Tuberculosa |
Framenau, V. W. and Yoo, J.-S. 2006. Systematics of the new Australian wolf spider genus Tuberculosa (Araneae, Lycosidae). Invertertebrate Systematics 20: 185-202.
|
Clade 2 |
(Gondwanan Lycosinae: males without tubercle on the outer edge of their fangs.) |
Dingosa |
Framenau, V. W. & Baehr, B. C. 2007. Revision of the Australian wolf spider genus Dingosa Roewer, 1955 (Araneae, Lycosidae). Journal of Natural History 41, 1603-1629.
|
Knoelle |
Framenau, V. W. 2006. Knoelle, a new monotypic wolf spider genus from Australia (Araneae, Lycosidae). Zootaxa 1281, 55-67.
|
Mainosa |
Framenau, V. W. 2006. Mainosa, a new genus for the Australian "shuttlecock wolf spider". Journal of Arachnology 34, 206-213.
|
