Strange bug found in Santa Fe NM
Hello there, I was just in Santa Fe and found this bug drowned in some water and can’t figure out what it is. It definently has ten legs, two pincher/fang things… I don’t know, here are some pictures if you could help me out, I’m very curious to know.
Thanks,
Melissa

Hi Melissa,
Your critter is a Solpugid.

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Spider ID
Hi, This is a spider that my boyfriend found in our garage. We live in Cave Creek, Arizona. The body was about a centimeter long. We thought it was unusual. Can you identify it?
Thanks,
Patti

Hi Patti,
Your spider is not really a spider, but a Solpugid, sometimes called Sun Spiders or Wind Scorpions, though they are neither spiders nor scorpions. They are vicious hunters, but are harmless to people since they do not have venom.

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Crazy aggressive spider??
Hello,
I live in Southern California and today as I was walking through my kitchen this bug charged out to the middle of the floor to within 6 inches of my foot and raised up two front legs and acted very aggressively. I backed up a step and the bug pursued me (I first thought it was a scorpion). I captured it and looked at it closer. It has 8 legs, two large antennae (look more like legs) and at least 4 large black fangs. I think it is a spider of some kind but it has kind of a cricket like abdomen. Anything I put in front of the bug is immediately acted aggressively upon and bitten. What is this thing?? I have sent along a picture. My wife is freaking out
Thanks for your help
Colby

Hi Colby,
Had you scrolled a little way down our homepage, you would have found a recent letter with a photo of a Solpugid, also known as a Sun Spider or a Wind Scorpion, though they are neither spiders nor scorpions, but related to both. They are without venom, and are harmless unless you are small enough to be prey, in which case their aggressive behavior would quickly dispatch anything in their paths. If you really want to freak out your wife, click the solpugid link in the alphabatized list on the left of the www.whatsthatbug.com homepage to see a Middle Eastern relative of our puny Southern California family representative. These monsters are known as Camel Spiders and we have an amazing photo with an equally amazing letter.

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Weird insect
Hello Bugman,
I am writing about a bug that I have been unable to find anywhere. It has been on my mind for several years and found this site. Hopefully, you can be of assistance. I was traveling with my father, daughter and friends to Black Rock Valley in Nevada. On our way, we stopped to have dinner somewhere in the western part of Utah or along I-80 in Nevada. We saw a bug in the corner of an entry way to a truck stop diner. We had never seen anything like it before and asked the locals who told us it was a ‘sand puppy’. The bug was reddish in color with a hairy body similar to what one might expect on a tarantula. The body was in two parts like an ant, with the head in particular resembling an ant with pinchers. The plump body was ringed like a bumble bee and very full. The locals told us that if the insect were injured and the ‘bee’ body part was unharmed, that it would uncoil and sliver away like a snake or centipede and regrow it’s body. I did not witness this first hand so that part is a mystery. The legs looked like a spider from the top (meaning the legs were bowed up and out and forming a circular pattern if you played dot-to-dot with the ends of the legs), but a cricket from the bottom (meaning they looked like cricket legs the way they attached to the body) and I believe it had more than 6 legs. It was about 2 1/2 inches in diameter including the legs. The locals also said that they bite ‘real hard’ and have even seen them bite a dog. They also said that the one we came upon was bigger than they had ever seen before. I looked over your pages and the closest thing it resembled was a potato bug, but none of them have hair bodies and the head didn’t look like an ant. Nor did it crawl like a cricket. It walked like a spider, smoothly. Any ideas?
Many thanks,
Ridge

Hi Ridge,
Yours is the second letter asking about Sand Puppies, obviously a local name. The other letter also mentioned Potato Bugs which was our first guess. After reading your letter, we believe Sand Puppies might be Solpugids, also known as Sun Spiders or Wind Scorpions. They are not poisonous, but do have powerful jaws we would not want to be bitten by. There is an amazing photo circulating the web which we also have published on our Solpugid/Scorpion page of Iraqi Solpugids which get very large and are known as Camel Spiders.

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