I walked in to the bathroom today and found this little gem in my bath tub. We thought it might be a wolf spider but all the pictures we looked at had different color patterns from this one. Do you happen to know what kind it is and if it is poisonous? How do I keep them out of my house? I have two small children and would like to avoid spider bites!
Although I cannot see its eyes and the abdominal markings seem atypical, this specimen has all the general appearance of a wolf spider (family Lycosidae). There are ground spiders (family Gnaphosidae) that have similar abdominal markings - see http://tinyurl.com/yeohr4p, but their spinnerets are much more prominent. Wolf spiders often come indoors, and may become trapped in smooth-walled containers such as bathtubs, sinks, etc.; large specimens can deliver a painful bite if mishandled, but otherwise are harmless to humans. Just FYI, with the exception of one small family (Uloboridae), all spiders have venom glands. However, only a very few species are dangerous to humans. For the vast majority of species, either their venom is not strong enough to affect humans, or they cannot inject enough to cause harm, or their fangs may not be able to penetrate humans skin.
