Mystery Critter, can you identify?

[jhouse]

This was under a leaf of one of my jalapeno pepper plants -- I thought it was an odd spider, now I'm not sure. Moves like one, but ?? The pic looks like it might have 6 legs, not 8. Crab shaped, shiny black with a single yellow dot.

Any ideas? It's tiny. Location is southwest Ohio.




Here's URL if those don't work:

http://www.tomatoville.com/picture.p...pictureid=3299
http://www.tomatoville.com/picture.p...pictureid=3302

[clkeiper]

no idea, but check with your local county extension office. they should have an entomologist on staff to ask or find out from someone else.

[jhouse]

I sent an email to my agent, will be interested to see if they know. I couldn't find anything like it online!

Plus it looks like it might be making babies. . . just didn't know if it's a good bug or bad bug!

[GrowingCoastal]

Try googling citrus spider or crab spider images. Some similar ones there. I had crab spiders when I lived in a house on peat but not since. Harmless insect eaters as far as I know.

[jhouse]

Thanks, I checked it out and it doesn't look that close. It's odd, can't find anything quite like it.

[Worth1]

It's a wee spider.

[jhouse]

Thanks, I finally found my wee spider! It's in the Theridula family, not sure which one though.

https://bugguide.net/node/view/541299

[bower]

Super cute. I found a pale green one on my garlic the other day, with a ball of green eggs that looked just like a garden pea! Spidermom was carefully tending that.

[jhouse]

aww. Our little wilderness areas. At least the spiders just eat bugs!

[shelleybean]

Wow! I've never seen anything quite like that! Looks alien.

[GoDawgs]

Glad you found it!

There's a great insect ID site where you can search insects by state.

https://www.insectidentification.org/

[Zeedman]

Originally Posted by GoDawgs

Glad you found it!

There's a great insect ID site where you can search insects by state.

https://www.insectidentification.org/

Thanks - that's a nice site. Bookmarked for future use.

[Worth1]

I just hauled a big ole green lynx spider out of the house, it was on my coffee maker.
After second thought maybe I should have left it alone they are hunting spiders.

[jhouse]

wow that's beautiful! And thanks for the site Zeedman!

unrelated side note: I've run across so many people that confuse house centipedes with silverfish; house centipedes are very beneficial, almost every home has them, and all they want to do is eat your pests! They hunt like little lions.

[GrowingCoastal]

Glad you found your spider.
When I was a kid I would lie on the floor and watch TV. One evening a giant centipede ran across the floor in front of me and I stayed up on the couch after that! Good to know they too are harmless to humans.