Spotted Wolf Spider

The spotted wolf spider, Pardosa amentata, is a wolf spider of the family Lycosidae first described by Carl Alexander Clerck in 1757, and the most common Pardosa species found in British gardens. It measures 5 to 8 millimeters long with a brownish body marked by darker brown spots, and has eight eyes arranged for wide vision, including two large forward-facing eyes, four smaller ones, and two more on top of the head for rear and side vision, while females carry their eggs in silk sacs beneath the abdomen. It is widespread across central and northwestern Europe, living in damp open habitats such as grasslands, marshes, fens, moorlands, and bogs, hunting by chasing and leaping on insects, mainly flies, rather than building a web, and moving indoors near windows and into basements to shelter from cold in winter.