what is this thing?

10 years ago

I spotted this guy on my thai pepper plant last night, and took the best picture I could. he looks like a spider, but appears to only have 6 legs, so it might not be a spider. he was crawling all over the plant, but seemed to pause a lot on the bottoms of some leaves. he's tan colored with a red face.

I don't think it's a pest, if anything he's probably helping me by eating pests, especially given that he was moving rather quickly, and stopping briefly every few seconds, whereas most pests find themselves a nice leaf and start chowing down. but still I'm intensely curious what he is, in part because of how creepy he looks.

I zoomed in as much as I could. thanks in advance.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (10)

zzackey
10 years ago
It is too blurred to tell.
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
10 years ago
a shrimp???

ken
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
10 years ago
Lol, Ken. It's not a picture that is useful to me.....it kind of looks spiderish.
judo_and_peppers
Original Author
10 years ago
sorry guys, I did the best I could with the picture. he was moving too fast to get a better one. I scoured the internet for pictures of a spider with a red face, only to come up short. he could be anything. I haven't seen him since, so it's no big deal really I was just curious.

thanks anyway, you guys have been very helpful to me in the past.
calliope
10 years ago
It has six legs. It's a spider. It's a friend. She eats insects.
woohooman San Diego CA zone 10a
10 years ago
Calliope: Do you mean EIGHT?
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
10 years ago
Lololol, this picture has 'bugged ' me! I'm SURE that it's a spider but I can only see 5 legs. The two short appendages in the front appear to be pedipalps. I THINK! If they are little legs, then I see 7.
calliope
10 years ago
Yes, they do look like pedipalps. I don't see eight legs either and was looking at the head and thinking spider, spider, spider because of that. I simply had my head where the sun don't shine when I said six legs. I do know that they have eight but it sure don't help my credibility. LOL. Sorry and glad somebody corrected me.
tsugajunkie z5 SE WI ♱
10 years ago
Shrimp is close.

It looks like one of a bazillion crab spiders which will often put their two forelegs together and it looks like one leg.

tj

P.S.
Look here too.

Here is a link that might be useful: Look at the last couple of pics

This post was edited by tsugajunkie on Tue, Jul 2, 13 at 19:03
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
10 years ago
Calliope, it would take a heck of a lot more than that for you to lose credibility!