WOLF SPIDER FOUND

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22390, 9 April 1936, Page 10

WOLF SPIDER FOUND

AN UNUSUAL SPECIES DOES NOT SPIN WEBS A wolf spider—the . second large** species of spider in the Dominion— *** discovered yesterday afternoon bv J. Hughes, a truck driver employed by the Auckland City Council, while woring on the Waitaker© pipe line job » Avondale. It was across. The spider, which has long legs an extremely powerful jaws, was foun underneath the partly rotted portion of a hardwood telegraph pole, and or that reason .Mr. Hughes' fellow-tvor men thought that it was a member o some Australian species. Thev tested its biting ability by means of a piec* of paper, and then it was placed methylated spirits. . Mr. It. A. Falla, of the Auckland War Memorial Museum, who later tified the spider, said it was remarkable for the fact that it 1 not spin webs like other spiders, u pursued insects in the open. It slightly smaller than the trapco spider, the largest species found in - eff Zealand, and was not particularly com mon. Its large jaws were capab e 0 inflicting a painful bite on anyone, u it was not venomous. The weather has apparently been favourable for spiders, for Mr. Falla sta that quite a collection had been r ceived by the museum recentlv. was a' trapdoor spider from a"® runui, a field spider from Ha mi ton markings like an Arabic inserip its back, and several spiders o silver variety.