Subject: Mysterious insect or arachnid
Geographic location of the bug: Orange county, CA
Date: 08/03/2018
Time: 06:36 PM EDT
Your letter to the bugman: Hello! I found a dead bug today and it is very very small, the pictures I took are through a basic magnifying glass with my cell phone. What is throwing me off about this guy is that it looks a lot like a little spider, but from what I can tell, it’s only got 6 legs. It’s too small for me to really thoroughly inspect it (which is really bugging me!), but with some tweezers I can tell that it’s kind of flat like an unfed tick, and the pincer-looking things might be curled antennae. Thank you!
How you want your letter signed: Emily
Dear Emily,
Did you find this creature indoors, possibly on a window sill? Though your image clearly illustrates scale thanks to the inclusion of a penny, it is difficult to make out any details. We believe this might be a Wall Spider in the genus Oecobius. BugGuide has some detailed images for comparison.