Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
Clickable Guide
Moths Butterflies Flies Caterpillars Flies Dragonflies Flies Mantids Cockroaches Bees and Wasps Walkingsticks Earwigs Ants Termites Hoppers and Kin Hoppers and Kin Beetles True Bugs Fleas Grasshoppers and Kin Ticks Spiders Scorpions Centipedes Millipedes

Calendar

TaxonomyBrowseInfoImagesLinksBooksData
Photo#1244203
Unusual spider that moves incredibly fast - Phrurotimpus borealis

Unusual spider that moves incredibly fast - Phrurotimpus borealis
11577, Nassau County, Long Island, New York County
June 23, 2016
Size: 2-3 mm including legs
He is extremely fast and moves his abdomen up and down when he is not walking. I found him on my desk at work a few hours ago and he is currently in a styrofoam cup until my shift is over and he can go outside. His chelicerae are very noticeable and have spheres on the end like a drumstick which you can't really see in the photo that well. He also has a big of a light spot on the top of his cephalothorax and his abdomen looks like a rectangle with rounded corners. I'm describing it in case the photo isn't good enough. It was the best one I could get. Like I said he is very very fast.

Images of this individual: tag all
Unusual spider that moves incredibly fast - Phrurotimpus borealis Unusual spider that moves incredibly fast - Phrurotimpus borealis

Moved
Moved from ID Request.

Looks like Phrurotimpus borealis


I think you are mistaking palps for chelicerae.

Welcome to BugGuide!

 
Thanks for taking the time to
Thanks for taking the time to look into this! That picture looks a lot like what I have in this cup! My only reservation is that the bug in the picture you posted has three legs on each side and 2 palps. The bug in my cup has 4 legs on each side and 2 palps. Any thoughts?

 
Mine lost two legs at some point
all spiders have eight legs but they often lose some of them. If you look carefully you can see the coxae of the missing legs, the second on the right and the forth on the left.

 
Oh okay, now that you point i
Oh okay, now that you point it out I can definitely see the stumps left over from his other two legs in that picture. I tried to google the name Phrurotimpus borealis and only got results on bugguide and a German Wikipedia article - is there another name this species is referred to by or is it just not terribly common?

 
I think they are fairly common
though maybe overlooked since they are pretty small and very fast moving as you've noticed. I got a bunch of results in a google search, perhaps you spelled it wrong?

Comment viewing options
Select your preferred way to display the comments and click 'Save settings' to activate your changes.