LARGE spider, striated legs, MD; fishing spider?

goodbug Ellicott City, MD Jun 18, 2009

We found this under our deck last night in Maryland. Body almost 1-inch; Almost 4-inches including leg span. Is this a fishing spider? Haven't seen one here before. She seems shy. Our cat contracted MRSA last year from what we believe was a secondary insult due to a spider bite--she likes to play with arthropods. Are these spiders solitary? What is their prefered habitat? Can we expect more? We released her and her future babies in the woods. As pretty as she is, I'd rather not find one in my bed one night.

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suunto Sinks Grove, WV Jun 19, 2009

This is indeed a fishing/dock/nursery web spider (family Pisauridae), likely in the genus Dolomedes. They can be distinguished from wolf spiders in that their anterior median eyes are not significantly enlarged and that females carry their egg sac in their chelicerae such as your specimen is doing. (Wolf spiders carry their egg sac at the end of the abdomen). Like the vast majority of spiders, they are solitary, but the female usually will 'stand guard' over her young for a while after her eggs hatch. They usually are found in the vicinity of a water source of some kind, but adults often will wander quite some distance in search of prey or potential mates.

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