Pardosa laura

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Pardosa laura
Spider carrying baby spiders on own back - 1.jpg
female with spiderlings
Pardosa laura.jpg
male from Hong Kong
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Infraorder: Araneomorphae
Family: Lycosidae
Genus: Pardosa
Species:
P. laura
Binomial name
Pardosa laura
Karsch, 1879
Synonyms
  • Tarentula palusDönitz & Strand, in Bösenberg & Strand, 1906
  • Pirata longipedisSaito, 1939
  • Pardosa diversaTanaka, 1985

Pardosa laura is a species of wolf spider in the family Lycosidae. It has a widespread distribution across East Asia. [1]

Contents

Distribution

P. laura is distributed across Russia (Far East), Korea, Japan, China, and Taiwan. [1] The species is commonly found in mountainous grassland areas at the foot of hills and mountains. [2]

Habitat

The species is typically found in grasslands at the base of mountains and hills. [2] It inhabits agricultural areas including rice fields and cotton fields across its range. [3] [4]

Description

Pardosa laura is a medium-sized wolf spider with notable sexual dimorphism in coloration. Adult females measure 4.0–7.2 mm in body length, while males are smaller at 3.7–5.2 mm. [2]

The carapace of females is dark reddish-brown, while males are almost entirely black. The anterior median eyes are slightly larger than the anterior lateral eyes. The clypeus is pale yellowish-brown and wider than the diameter of the anterior median eyes. The maxillae and labium are greyish-brown. [2]

In females, the sternum is pale yellowish-brown with a reddish-brown U-shaped marking in the central area, while in males it is blackish-grey with a narrow yellowish-brown longitudinal stripe in the upper central portion. The dorsal abdomen of females is yellowish-brown with irregular dark brown markings, while males have a reddish-brown abdomen with six pairs of black spots arranged in rows on the posterior half. [2]

The legs are generally yellowish-brown with ring patterns visible from the femur to the tibia, except for the whitish-yellow coxae and the dark brown tips of the first leg patellae. The pedipalps are dark brown except for the yellowish-brown patella, with white hairs at the tip of the femur and base of the patella, and numerous black hairs at the tip of the tibia. [2]

Life cycle

Adult females can be found from May to mid-September, while males have a shorter active period from May to early July. Egg sac formation occurs in July. [2]

Taxonomy

The species was first described by Friedrich Karsch in 1879 based on material from Japan. [5] The taxonomic history of P. laura is complex, with several species names that have been synonymized with it over time, including Tarentula palus Dönitz & Strand, 1906, Pirata longipedis Saito, 1939, and Pardosa diversa Tanaka, 1985. [1]

Type specimens are housed in the Senckenberg Museum in Frankfurt am Main, Germany (fragments) and the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin, Germany (syntypes). [1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Pardosa laura Karsch, 1879". World Spider Catalog. Retrieved 31 August 2025.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Tanaka, H. (2009). "Lycosidae". In Ono, H. (ed.). The spiders of Japan with keys to the families and genera and illustrations of the species. Kanagawa: Tokai University Press. pp. 222–248.
  3. Song, D. X. (1980). Farm Spiders. Beijing: Science Press. p. 247.
  4. Zhao, J. Z. (1993). Spiders in the cotton fields in China. Wuhan: Wuhan Publishing House. p. 552.
  5. Karsch, F. (1879). "Baustoffe zu einer Spinnenfauna von Japan". Verhandlungen des Naturhistorischen Vereins der Preussischen Rheinlande und Westfalens. 36: 57–105.