Very defensive wolf spider

All photos and videos by James Hearn

So James met up with this cranky wolf spider last Wednesday (December 3) on our driveway. He emailed me his photos and videos (I was with my mother). Wow! At first I thought she was an aggressive huntsman spider. But no, this is a wolf spider, probably Hogna baltimoriana. We'd never seen one act so defensive. Had she maybe been stung by a wasp? No, too chilly for winged insects.  

 

I sent the videos to Eric Neubauer, my wolf spider expert/Texas Master Naturalist friend. He was intrigued with her odd behavior and shared the videos with Russell Pfau, a professor in the biological sciences department at Tarleton State University. (I worked with the pair to write First-Name Basis, a November 2024 essay in Texas Co-op Power magazine about their efforts to name a misidentified wolf spider – Hogna incognita.)

 

"I think this belongs in the category of why are there distinct ventral markings?" he wrote Pfau and me. "I've noticed that individuals will rarely flash their ventral side by flipping over. They also can end up on their backs while subduing prey and flip back upright as soon as they have it in their jaws. I've seen females with young end up on their backs and assumed they were top heavy, but maybe it was to protect their young."

 

He sent us a link to similar behavior he found on iNaturalist: California wolf spider. 

 

Always so interesting to observe nature! 

  

No second spring

American beautyberry

Alas, there will be no second spring this October. Usually, this time of year we have a second bustin' of blooms. But with no substantial rains in the past few months, it's just been a plain bust. Most of our plants are really struggling. The difference, though, is I don't worry as much as I used to. After the rough summer of '24, our native gardens still looked good this past spring. We'll see how everything how it goes this time around. 

Velvetleaf mallow

Turk's cap

Lindheimer senna

Trumpet creeper

Plateau goldeneye

Texas lantana

Tithonia

  

As a general rule, we try to plant only natives. But I gave in last week and bought six tithonias (Tithonia rotundifolia) from the Arnoskys at their Blue Barn. I've seen how tall they grow there and how they do indeed attract a lot of butterflies. This species is native to Mexico and Central America. We'll see what happens!   

Mandarin tree

Normally, my Texas satsuma mandarin tree (‘Miho’) puts on fruit every other year. Last October, we picked a good number of mandarins. Then this year – SURPRISE! – it put on two mandarins. I think it's a way of telling us good by. I'm hoping my son's best friend will adopt my tree before the first freeze and rehome it in his new greenhouse. We just can't move it back and forth into our garage any more. Plus, it's really getting big. Believe it or not, I've keep this beauty alive since May 2004, when my son gifted it to me for Mother's Day. 

October 10, 2025 UPDATE – We peeled our last two mandarins. Oh, my! They were sweet, sweet, sweet!

Small matters

As a general rule, I try not to interfere with nature. But yesterday, I did. I interfered.

After supper, I was in the back yard, walking a path, trimming dead foliage here and there. Along the way, I stopped to admire the last surviving one of five yellow garden spiders (Argiope aurantia) that took up residence this past summer in our yard. At the base of her large orbweb, she'd hung a recent catch, wrapped in white webbing. A couple of little legs dangled out through the silk. When I saw them still moving, I felt sad. That's nature, I told myself, and walked on by. 

But I went back.

"I'm sorry," I told the spider. "But I have to rescue this one." Trying not to damage her web too much, I was able to remove the dung beetle – likely a Texas black phanaeus (Phanaeus texensis). I took a picture of her (above), then went in the house for scissors. Could I save her? I had to try.

Patiently and gently, I trimmed fibers and pulled away silk with my fingernails. I was so afraid that I might damage or pull off one of her legs. All the while, the beetle struggled and fought, never tiring or giving up. "You want to live, don't you," I told her. "Well, I'm trying!" Slowly, bit by bit, the silk came away. At one point, I could see that the wrapping could be peeled away. It wasn't sticky at all, just tight. 

Miraculously, the spider's webbing finally fell away and off! My beetle friend was free, free, free! I'd done it!

 

Happy and relieved, I carried her to an open area outside our yard and set her on a rock. Quick as a flash, she buzzed up, up and away! (I barely got a video of her taking off.) Her final mission in life now is to deposit eggs in some poop and then go to heaven. She won't live much longer. That's nature. So was I wrong to interfere? Maybe. But when I saw her struggling and her determination to live, I had to try and help. I couldn't just walk away. 

One little beetle – who cares? Me and my heart did. Because small matters. 

The strong silk webbing that was around the beetle.

I hope my spider lady forgave me.

Wrapping up a grasshopper

Take a look at this amazing video taken by Bunnia DoByns of Blanco, Texas. She was there at just the right moment to see a yellow garden spider (Argiope aurantia) catch and wrap wide swaths of silk around a grasshopper that had just bumbled into her orbweb. With Bunnia's permission, I'm sharing her video here and also on my YouTube channel. 

If you look closely, you can see how this spider is pulling silk from her spinnerets at the tip of her abdomen. Spider silk is comprised of proteins and is liquid until it hits air. Then it solidifies and becomes super strong and elastic. About halfway through this video, I believe the spider is biting and injecting venom into the grasshopper, which will paralyze and provide a fresh meal for when the spider's ready to eat. 

Thank you, Bunnia! 

Love to talk about those spiders....

This afternoon, I presented my favorite program, "Spiders of Central Texas," to members of the Blanco County Master Gardeners. Thank you for having me! And one member shared a really cool spider video with me. I'll be posting it soon with her permission.