Bug FAQDotted Wolf Spider
Rabidosa punctulata · Order: Araneae · Family: Lycosidae
The dotted wolf spider is a large, light-brown wolf spider with striped cephalothorax and an abdomen that has light spots and a dark middle stripe. It lives in areas of weeds and tall grasses and its range extends from Massachusetts west to Kansas and south to Texas and northern Florida.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
It has a light-brown body with a striped cephalothorax and an abdomen marked by light spots and a dark central stripe.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
It is a large wolf spider with a light-brown coloration.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
It lives among weeds and tall grasses.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
Its native range covers the United States from Massachusetts west to Kansas, and south to Texas and northern Florida.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 33 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Texas, Virginia, North Carolina, Missouri, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Status: native in North America. Source: iNaturalist
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Same family (Lycosidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabidosa_punctulata
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-23 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-23.