Odd Creature, Looked Like Spider, But . . .

K

kamakiri

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I'm 90% sure it was a spider, but I'd never seen anything like it before. One evening recently on my kitchen floor I saw what looked like a spider, with a dark body a little bigger than a grain of jasmine rice, but her legs were about two inches long and appeared to lack joints; indeed, they were so thin that they looked like thick *hairs*. And she was moving in a very unspiderlike fashion—if you've ever seen a sea spider, with the delicately lifting and lowering of the arms, that's whet this one looked like.

I didn't want to let her keep crawling around the kitchen because I was afraid I would step on her, and she didn't seem to be conducive to being caught in a container (I didn't want to crush her legs) so I put a kitchen container over her and slid a piece cardboard under that and escorted her to the balcony, which I'm afraid was a death sentence, but staying in my kitchen was a definite death sentence.

What was it?
 
NMTs

NMTs

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kamakiri said:
I'm 90% sure it was a spider, but I'd never seen anything like it before. One evening recently on my kitchen floor I saw what looked like a spider, with a dark body a little bigger than a grain of jasmine rice, but her legs were about two inches long and appeared to lack joints; indeed, they were so thin that they looked like thick *hairs*. And she was moving in a very unspiderlike fashion—if you've ever seen a sea spider, with the delicately lifting and lowering of the arms, that's whet this one looked like.

I didn't want to let her keep crawling around the kitchen because I was afraid I would step on her, and she didn't seem to be conducive to being caught in a container (I didn't want to crush her legs) so I put a kitchen container over her and slid a piece cardboard under that and escorted her to the balcony, which I'm afraid was a death sentence, but staying in my kitchen was a definite death sentence.

What was it?
Click to expand...
Without seeing any photos, I would just guess it was some type of Opilione.
 
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kamakiri

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fq314 said:
Any pics? Sounds like a cellar spider or harvestman to me
Click to expand...
No, he was actually moving too fast—I couldn't afford to lose sight of her because I was afraid I'd step on her. And weirdly, although I tried to hustle her into the are behind the refrigerator, she kept coming back into the light.

Yes, very similar to the cellar spider, but only because the legs are long. This one had an oval-shaped body, not the head-thorax-abdomen that I could see.

And the legs did NOT APPEAR TO HAVE JOINTS. I know that's a weird statement, but I could see no clear delineation, and he moved oddly; some legs would be flying upwards while others were sweeping downwards. I know long-legged animals, and also long-legged spiders, but they looked spider-like. This one didn't, and that's why I brought it to this board.

In fact, at first I didn't even think it was alive—I though it was a giant hairball left behind by my cats. I'll try Googling to see if I can find anything comparable.

Either that or it WAS a cellar spider and my eyes were just playing tricks . . . a distinct possibility.

Okay, this is as close as I could find to it—I guess my not seeing any joints was a trick of the light. I see know that it could not have been anything else. Poor thing—I probably killed it by dumping it on the balcony.
 
The Snark

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NMTs said:
Yeah, that's an Opilione.
Click to expand...
Hrrrm. The jury is out on that one. Not the globular body I'm familiar with. I can almost make out the body division.
Either way, it's a very dangerous animal. Gets inside your clothing it can tickle the daylights out of you.
 
Ultum4Spiderz

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kamakiri said:
No, he was actually moving too fast—I couldn't afford to lose sight of her because I was afraid I'd step on her. And weirdly, although I tried to hustle her into the are behind the refrigerator, she kept coming back into the light.

Yes, very similar to the cellar spider, but only because the legs are long. This one had an oval-shaped body, not the head-thorax-abdomen that I could see.

And the legs did NOT APPEAR TO HAVE JOINTS. I know that's a weird statement, but I could see no clear delineation, and he moved oddly; some legs would be flying upwards while others were sweeping downwards. I know long-legged animals, and also long-legged spiders, but they looked spider-like. This one didn't, and that's why I brought it to this board.

In fact, at first I didn't even think it was alive—I though it was a giant hairball left behind by my cats. I'll try Googling to see if I can find anything comparable.

Either that or it WAS a cellar spider and my eyes were just playing tricks . . . a distinct possibility.

Okay, this is as close as I could find to it—I guess my not seeing any joints was a trick of the light. I see know that it could not have been anything else. Poor thing—I probably killed it by dumping it on the balcony.
Click to expand...
Looks similar to a harvestman . So strange looking haha 😆..
 
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