Weird spider thing I found in my house - what is it?

[Melsky]

I found this critter in my house. It was dead so I scanned it.


Note: it's missing one leg. I think my cat ate it.

The week before I found one in my bathtub. It tried to grab me with those two feeler things when I tried to catch it. (I caught it in a jar and released it a mile away..)

This thing has 8 legs, plus the feelers. One of the legs is missing. I've never seen a spider that had grabbing feelers. At first I thought it was a scorpion. We live in the So. Cal. desert, near Joshua Tree National Park.

Does anyone know what this is? Or can anyone recommend a good entomology themed message board?

[SoCalDem]

1. Looks like a wolf spider..

I had a big one for a "pet" for a long time.. They eat lits of flies :)

[Must_B_Free]

2. I hope it;s not a brown recluse

the bite causes your skin to decay if it is...

[Bossy Monkey]

11. They're only an inch long, if that

The brown recluse is about 1/4 to 1/2 inches in body length (most adults are about the size of a United States dime to a US quarter with legs extended). http://www.uky.edu/Agriculture/Entomology/entfacts/struct/ef631.htm

[SoCalDem]

3. nope too skinny for a wolf spider

[binaryline]

4. wow

i'd certainly have a nervous breakdown if i ever spotted a spider of that size in my house. wow, again.

also: for some reason, i think it's really amusing that you scanned a huge, dead spider. i don't know why ;-).

on edit: actually, i think it's really awesome that you scanned the dead spider. excuse me, i'm in a really odd mood tonight ;-). i hope you find out what sort of spider it is.

[Melsky]

5. I did think maybe it was a wolf spider

but I couldn't find any pics online of wolf spiders that have those big grabbing arm things. Maybe it is one though. If it eats flies it's welcome at my house anyway.

[alfredo]

6. the back legs are interesting, almost like grasshopper legs.

My first impression was a wolf spider, but its markings are different. It could be one of many variations of any number of spiders.

the front legs are like jumping spiders' legs. Many spiders grab their prey with their front legs.

[JCMach1]

7. Are you in the SW U.S.?

I remember a similar ugly spider in Midland, TX when we lived there.

[Melsky]

13. I'm in 29 Palms, CA

San Bernardino County

This is taken from my front yard!

[Kathy in Cambridge]

8. I Live in the City Because of Bugs like that

yuck! I would freak out!

[depakid]

9. Looks to me like some kind of Hobo Spider

if so, it is indeed poisonous- We have a little problem with them here in the NorthWest- and they are well know to be found in tubs and sinks. These nastie little crawlies even have their own website:

[Xenolith]

10. What you have is a "sun spider"

Eremobates spp. It is neither a true spider nor a scorpion. It is in a category all its own. Mouth parts are distinctive. Hunts other insects and arachnids. Not poisonous, but looks scary.

[SoCalDem]

15. wow a spider person...that's what it was

The critter wasn't a scorpion, but a solpugid (pronounced sole-pew-jid). They are Arachnids making them close relatives of spiders and are also known as sun spiders, wind scorpions, or camel spiders.



Solpugids somewhat resemble scorpions, but have no claws. Instead, they have "arms" called pedipalps in addition to their eight legs. The pedipalps have adhesive ends that allow them to catch and hold their prey. They can run very fast and when they do, they carry the pedipalps above their body. After chasing down and catching their prey with the pedipalps, the prey is crushed by the formidable fangs (called chelicerae). After killing their prey, they suck out the juice, and eat some of the fine particles, and discard the pulp. This explains what happened in the jar on the way to the Extension office.

There are over 50 species of solpugids in the Southwestern United States. They are also found in Southern Europe where there are six known species. Most of them are 1-5 cm long (3/8-2 inches) and they can be yellow, brown, or black. I won't detail solpugid mating habits here, but from our frame of reference, their reproductive practices would probably be considered aberrant behavior. Suffice it to say that the male does not always survive the honeymoon. After mating, the female constructs a burrow where she lays 50-200 eggs. After the eggs hatch, the mother solpugid and the youngsters stay together for some time. During this time, she often captures prey and feeds the family.

Did I say Solpugids are fast? I think this is one reason people are scared of them. They can really get up and go. Solpugids are usually nocturnal and eat a wide variety of prey. This includes but is not limited to termites, bees, bedbugs, mice, and lizards. There is a story about a Corporal in a Tank Battalion during World War II that kept a solpugid in a tin can on top of the tank. As the story goes, he fed it almost solely on scorpions.

Solpugids are commonly considered to be venomous, but poison glands have not been found associated with the chelicerae. It has been suggested that poisoning might result from toxins being secreted from the bristle-like hairs near the chelicerae, but this has not been confirmed. Apparently, authentic cases of aftereffects resulting from a solpugid bite have been recorded, but these symptoms may have been caused by a bacterial infection of the wound.

The solpugid's bad reputation is because of its fierce appearance. If you are accidentally bitten, wash with soap and water, then apply antiseptic to the wound. Outdoors they are beneficial and should not be killed. If you find one in your house, this tells you two things. First, you probably need to replace the weather stripping around your windows and/or doors. Second, you may have an insect pest infestation, such as roaches or termites, which attracted the solpugid to the area to feed. If you do encounter a solpugid indoors, quickly and carefully put it in a jar and observe it's impressive attributes. After that, release it to the outdoors where it can find a suitable dinner.

The University of Arizona Cooperative Extension has publications and information on gardening and pest control. If you have other gardening questions, call the Master Gardener line in the Cottonwood office at 646-9113 or E-mail us at [e-mail] and be sure to include your address and phone number. Find past Backyard Gardener columns or submit column ideas at the Backyard Gardener web site: http://ag.arizona.edu/yavapai/anr/hort/byg/.

[Melsky]

16. Thanks Xenolith

I'm very glad it's not harmful. I was worried it would get my cat!

[BigMcLargehuge]

17. Hmnmmmm... it has less body mass and longer legs than a...

Sun Spider

[MoonGod]

27. Cool.. I used to see those in El Paso..

... I thought maybe they were baby scorpions or something, because they always seemed to show up just b4 I'd start seeing a bunch of scorpions.

Now I know. :)

[newyawker99]

28. Hi Xenolith!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[SoCalDem]

12. spider sites. with pics

http://www.arachnology.org/

[short bus president]

14. looks like a run-of-the-mill

garden spider to me. :shrug:

[JCMach1]

21. No, these things are freaky and fast and yes

the do look similar to a scorpion, or maybe a tarantula... or a weird cross.

You find them in the arid part of the country. We had several get into our home in Midland, TX.

One of several creepy things that come from there.

[BansheeBarbie]

18. Once Had A Miranda In My Garden...Scary

But harmless, I believe

[supernova]

23. Garden Spider

garden variety...yes, and harmless. That pic is about 2x actual life size.

Wicked looking thing, though. We have them here in NC. I usuually find one or two in my yard every year.

[Fridays Child]

25. Those are cool. Did it bounce on its ladder web to try and scare you away?

We had them in the blackberry bushes in the Midwest, and they always tried to keep us away by bouncing their ladder webs.

[KG]

19. bleh

spiders creep me the fuck out! yeesh!

[BelgianMadCow]

20. yeah me too

but ten again that's why I opened this thread

:scared:

[BlueJazz]

24. Pal..I'm with you on that one.....

The above posts talk about how fast they are.....
Damn, if I ever had one of those suckers crawl on me I'd pass Seabiscuit like he was standing still!!

[LWolf]

22. It looks like a wind scorpion to me.

They're common in the desert and nocturnal. When I lived outside of town in the middle of the desert, they were nightly visitors. Here's a couple of links:

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7495.html

http://www.bugyman.com/slwndsc3.htm

http://dine.sanjuan.k12.ut.us/heritage/land/animals/bugs/wind_scorpion.htm

[NickB79]

26. Looks like

A good reason to sleep with a loaded shotgun nearby! ECK, I absolutely, positively HATE spiders, unless they're small and nonpoisonous. Big ones FREAK ME OUT!

* loading shotgun as we speak, looks under bed, BLAM BLAM BLAM!!! *

[nini]

29. Why did I look?? why? why?

gonna have nightmares now..

eeewww..


spiders that big freak me out. Maybe one reason I won't be able to live out in the boonies.



:scared:

[Blue_Chill]

31. Wanna see a bigger one?

Check out this happy man displaying his monster spider that must have crawled out of hell, Rush must have left the door open or something.

[BiggJawn]

30. Oh....The Black Incal has hatched!

Only John DiFool can save us now!

[Karenina]

32. REALLY hesitated to click this thread

especially after a close encounter of the worst kind a couple of days ago with a "Hausspinne." They live in the basement, are COMPLETELY harmless, and control the insect population quite well. The only problem is they are the size of a CD, hairy with fangs, red eyes, swords, maces and have AK 47s strapped to their backs.

I had raided the neighbor's "Sperrmüll" (in which I found some LOVELY OLD crystal goblets AND Staffordshire plates). Dumped the stuff on my kitchen floor. In the morning I was surveying my newly acquired lot when suddenly this HUGE creature shot like a bat out of hell across the floor and under the refridgerator. I jumped on a chair and screamed for say, 20 minutes. My kid heard my screeching and elected NOT to come out of the shower. (We'd seen one in the hallway several days before, so he recognized the scream.) Suffice to say the day was SHOT. We took turns standing guard. Think you can find a can of Raid in this country??? FORGET IT! We finally found a spray which on the back said "Many insects are beneficial and should NOT be killed unnecessarily." We were both completely hysterical, our neighbors all had a good laugh and the poor creature finally met its maker after I TAPED THE WHOLE KITCHEN SHUT WITH PLASTIC SHEETING AND DUCT TAPE. It must have realized it was trapped, tried to find an escape and made an appearance on the plastic sheeting. I interrupted Jochen's harp lesson (banging on his door SCREECHING) and he did the knight in shining armor thing...

Arachnophobia?

[GoddessOfGuinness]

33. It's horribly beautiful!

I'm gonna have to go out west...

[geniph]

34. That's a giant European house spider

Our house has zillions of them, but I rarely see a live one more than a few inches from the door - the cats grab them in nanoseconds and toss them around until they break.

If you have giant house spiders, you won't need to worry much about brown recluses; they're competitors and the giant house spiders are VERY predatory on brown recluses.

They do bite, and it can hurt, but they don't bite very often and it isn't particularly toxic. The ones we get are so large they're downright disconcerting - I call them the baby tarantulas.

All spiders have the palps - the jaws - that you can see on this one, it's just that this one has particularly large ones.

Here's an EXCELLENT page on these spiders (warning for the spider-phobic - there's lots of large pictures):
http://www.srv.net/~dkv/hobospider/european.html
T. Gigantea is the one we have.