CLOSED: what is this creature? Creepy!

Some kind of spider????? Found it in my garden in Atlanta as I was moving some ferns.

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Don't know what it is but I'd kill it!

Looks like a spider on its back

Looks like something that might eat 1000 plant-damaging insects and other critters in its lifetime.

i think it's a spider, LOL, not sure, but i'll bet that "thing" is an eggsac.

I did a search for 'tic', I sometimes find them on our stray cat and they have a sac body, like a stomach, but legs attached either side of the head. There is possibly many types, I came across a site with pics of many strange bugs. They even have funny name descriptions, don't know whether this is the real one or unidentified, but there are general 'order' names.

http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~ecology/insects/pics.html

Take a look at the 'brown dog tic', the legs go well down the side. I'm wondering if the one above has it's legs folded up over its back, are they adjoined down the sides of the 'sac'?

http://www.certifiedtpc.com/html/insect.htm

More on the brown dog tick

http://creatures.ifas.ufl.edu/urban/medical/brown_dog_tick.htm

Ticks are members of the order 'Acarina', on the first site above the 'Acari' order is the first on the list, they sound related.

http://www.pestproducts.com/ticks1.htm#Tick%20Identification

I should have noted - mea culpa - this thing was about 1" long. Too big to be a tick, I think.
It was moving, and did not look like it was on its back though I did not want to get too close. I have a real respect for jumping spiders and like to keep some distance.

This doesn't look like any tick or spider I've ever seen! But then, it doesn't look like anything I've ever seen. Did you take a spider and glue another spider's legs to the back of the first spider? Is it on its back?
Weird!!!
CJ

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/518892/
Dysdera crocata (Wood Louse Hunter) Could this be it? I had this one last summer.

If no one can ID it here, maybe you could submit it to http://bugguide.net/node/view/15740. The other place I know of http://www.whatsthatbug.com/ is not answering questions for a couple of weeks. Whatever, I gotta know what it is!
CJ

boy, that sure looks like it, i can't wait to see. thanks shelly, for that. i sure miss max (ulrich). *sigh*

If it eats roly polys, please send it to me. Preferably pregnant.
CJ

I hope thats it... sure scared me when I saw it, thank goodness IF they do bite, its nothing neurological, just an itchy bump.
The roly polys dont bug me.. I still touch them to make them roll. LOL.. now if someone has something for pincherbugs...

Dysdera crocata (Wood Louse Hunter) - Thanks Shelly221 - I think that looks like this creature. Creepy looking thing!!

http://spiders.entomology.wisc.edu/Dysderidae/Dysdera/crocata.html

Thanks all,
Sterling

wallaby1 - btw - the forest agent here in Georgia says "that tree" is a maple. Just thought you'd like to know. :) yyyaaaahhhhhh - I want his job...

I am over run with roly polys eating at the base of my plants. They have done a big number on the calla lilies, my DH's favorite. I'm not afraid of them, just need to reduce the population drastically.
CJ

ceejaytown - you are more than welcome to come get it and as many of its children as you can catch!

Glad that was it.
Oh gosh.. I didnt know the rolypolys eat the plants! Darn things... I guess I always saw them under rocks, and figured they ate dirt LOL.

ate dirt. lol

LOLOL I know... :::sigh:::

that's ok, i still like to roll them around myself once in a while...............>

Thanks Shelly221 for IDing it. I see these once in a while in my garden and have been wondering what it is. Here's one I found about a month ago.

That was lucky someone had one to ID before, what a list of creepies there was on that first link I posted!

So pleased it's not a tick too, did you see the one laying eggs on the 'creatures.ifas' link? Can do without those! I went to bed last night with creepy crawlies and ticks on my mind, Ugh!

sterhill, the forest agent certainly has given us a lot of insight, if only that we stand a good chance of his job!

There is a huge pet store near where I live that sells all kinds of bizarre animals, rodents, fish etc....they are always running some kind of "special"...be it hampsters, lizards, birds etc...

Last month I drove by there and they had this enormous banner across the front of the place that read, " SPECIAL THIS WEEK: MOTHER'S DAY TARANTULAS "

Here Mom...I love you...Got you a tarantula !!!!!!!!!

I once had a pet tarantula.....

I run across these once in a while. Seems like it's when I'm planting something. They're always under the dirt. When I disturb one it runs and digs itself back into the earth. They give me the creeps because I think there's more. But I've only seen one at a time. I really don't like them.

Oh JasperDale- too, too funny. I could see the look on that poor mother's face. Kinda like the time my dog Micah decided to gift me with 1/2 a rotting bird he'd killed weeks before and buried. I'm sure screeching and swearing was not the reaction he was going for.
I've got these spiders, too. First time I found one, I was sifting for bulbs in a pot. It was a bit of a shock, since I'd forgotten to put on my gardening gloves. Good to know they aren't going to really hurt me if I get bit.

Hyblaean - when I looked it up I found "Its bite can be painful but the venom does not cause serious medical problems." - you need to wear those gloves!

http://www.coopext.colostate.edu/4DMG/Pests/dysdera.htm

Thanks Sterhill, I will from now on. It's funny, scared me enough to make me leave off digging in the dirt that day. Now though, it's a bit of perspective. I had this one in my hand and it didn't move at all, I had no idea what it was (other than not a bulb) until I put it down and it unfolded. I wonder why most people (me included) are so afraid of things that, comparatively, are relatively harmless. I know some are very dangerous, but most of those are small, why are we more afraid the bigger they get? I mean I felt true fear when I realized I'd been holding a spider that substantial (know it's not big, big, but the one in my pot was largish and fat- not some spindly little air spider). I felt like I was going to pass out, I got hot and started to breathe quicker, and I'm not a girlie girl either :) It would have been embarrassing, if it hadn't been so visceral. Been reading this forum for a little bit now and it seems like most people have some grown up version of gut fear towards some bugs. I wish I knew why, maybe it would help me get over mine?

Oh, my God! I spent a lot of last weekend moving logs (and watching pill bugs skitter out of the way) and raking up debris. If I'd seen one of those you would have heard my screech clear across Kansas!

I'm glad I didn't see one. Cardiac problems run in my family!