What sort of spider is this??

Question

We found this spider at our archaeology site in Charlottesville, VA...even the staff said they'd never seen anything so huge in the area. Any ideas? It was about 3 inches long and 2 inches wide.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3027/2606322950_b8e9d8331f.jpg?v=0

Answer 1

ID it here -

http://www.spideridentification.org/

http://www.badspiderbites.com/spider-ide...

http://www.aboutbugsbugsbugs.com/spiders...

http://www.pesticide.org/spiders.html

Answer 2

The generally hairy and robust Wolf Spider species of the Southwestern deserts range from perhaps half an inch to a couple of inches in body length.  Typically, they vary from black to brown to gray in color, sometimes with a pattern along the back of the abdomen and head and thorax and sometimes with an orangish coloration on the face.  It has excellent camouflage for a life on the pebbled and sandy surface of the desert floor.  According to the Spider Bites Internet site, the Wolf Spider, like most Araneae, has eight “simple” eyes—organs that can detect light and darkness.  Characteristically, the Wolf Spider’s eyes occur in three horizontal rows, with four small eyes in the bottom row, two large eyes in the middle row, and two medium-sized eyes in the top row.

Answer 3

a wolf spider? they tend to be very large.