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Comments & ID Thoughts
I have no clue what type if spider this is. It was smaller than a penny and very close to the river in northern Minnesota.
- Submitted by:
- Submitted: Jun 29, 2020
- Photographed: Jun 28, 2020
- Spider: Unidentified
- Location: Duluth, Minnesota, United States
- Spotted Outdoors: Under rock, log, or debris,Freshwater river, lake, stream
- Found in web?: No
- Attributes:
Whatever it is, it looks like it has been heavily parasitized by mites or perhaps wasp eggs.
I found the same thing yesterday and posted my image too – cannot find anything like this online. I’m in Ontario, Canada.
I can’t identify it online at all either. interesting to have both seen one yesterday.
I think it is a Fishing Spider, genus Dolomedes, with parasitic mites, as @Helper-Harvestman said. I posted a photo of a Long-jawed Orbweaver with one of these parasites on it. Please post a photo to Bugguide.net. They are volunteer specialists in North American arthropods. They might be tracking the spread of the parasites or the affected species. The worst they can do is delete it. 🙂 Thank you for sharing this, it could be useful for research.
I’ve seen similar on caterpillars but never a spider. I’m leaning toward parasitic wasp which would hatch and feed off the spider like a Cicada Killer