Today, we’re going to look at the parson spider vs wolf spider and show you how they are unique despite looking somewhat similar.
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A wolf spider’s body can measure between 1/4 inch to 1 3/8 inch, though the latter is a size seen only in females. Parson spiders can measure between 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch in body size.
Parson spiders also have a light-colored band running down their cephalothorax, and that makes people confuse them for wolf spiders. Generally speaking, though, you will find that wolf spiders have two bands of color that start in the front of the cephalothorax, run over their eyes, and go toward the abdomen.
The wolf spider has two large eyes on top, two medium eyes in the middle, and four small eyes on the bottom. Meanwhile, the parson spider has two large eyes on top, four medium eyes in the middle, and two small eyes on the bottom.
Parson spiders and wolf spiders have some unique elements of their morphology even though they are both hairy spiders. For example, parson spiders have large, obvious spinnerets at the end of their abdomens, but wolf spiders do not. Wolf spiders have three large tarsal claws on the end of their feet, but parson spiders do not.