Pardosa pseudoannulata, a member of a group of species referred to as wolf-spiders, is a non-web-building spider belonging to the family Lycosidae.

P. pseudoannulata are wandering spiders that track and ambush prey and display sexual cannibalism.

Their venom has properties that helps it function as an effective insecticide, and it is, therefore, a crucial pesticide control agent.

[1] Pardosa pseudoannulata is widely spread across China, India, Korea, Japan and other countries in East Asia.

[1] Pardosa pseudoannulata commonly inhabits arable farm fields and similar open habitats.

It is one of the most common surface-dwelling spider species in Central China and plays an important role as a control agent against pests and insects within the crop fields.

This causes P. pseudoannulata to starve for multiple months at times, explaining why they are well adapted to survive in environments with insufficient resources.

Pre-copulation cannibalism in which the male spider is used solely as food is commonly observed in females who have already mated.

[2][4] Pardosa pseudoannulata’s abdomen width is an important indicator of its hunting abilities and starvation resistance.

The sizes of these body regions strongly correlate with the energy the spider will have to hunt and the duration of time it can withstand starvation.

If a spiderling is in a situation where the mother deems it important for it to hunt, her resource allocation will work to increase the development of the cephalothorax.

On the other hand, if there is a period of starvation expected by the mother, she will allocate resources that lead to the enlargement of the abdomen.

For females, reproducing with a male that has recently mated and has a low sperm count will lead to a lower chance of reproductive success.

Similar to other Pardosa species, sub-adults and adults overwinter in order to conserve energy and survive the cold winter months.

Interestingly, the rate of cannibalization occurring did not change with the female's sexual history or hunger state.

The presence of sexual cannibalism does not have any influence on fecundity, as cannibalistic and non-cannibalistic females produce the same amount of offspring.

The male gets an opportunity to propagate his genes through his offspring by sacrificing his body in the form of paternal investment.

[1] Pardosa pseudoannulata do not weave webs, but instead will ambush, or chase, their prey in order to capture them.

Because of this, there is a lot of research that focuses on using the venom of Pardosa pseudoannulata as a pesticide in order to maximize crop yields in rice farms.

The studied venom is shown to be very selective in its target and will only immobilize certain species that Pardosa pseudoannulata comes in contact with.