# Name That Bug

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-bug/438526>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 21, 2008, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-bug/438526 "2008-02-21T06:23:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\
**Post date:** [February 21, 2008, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-bug/438526/1 "2008-02-21T06:23:26Z")

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I have extremely little information to offer, but maybe someone will know whereof I speak.

In my dog’s water bowl this morning, there was a bizarre looking bug. The only way I can think of to describe it is that it looked vaguely spiderish (and even seemed to be dangling from a strand of silk), but only appeared to have four legs. The legs, to my eyes, looked extraordinarily like tiny blades of grass - bright green, with a slight taper (wider near the body than at the ends). The body was a pale off-white color and mostly spherical.

For all intents and purposes, the thing basically looked like a tiny little egg with four blades of grass sprouting out of it. I’m certain it was actually a bug, and not a stray plant fragment.

Any ideas?

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**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\
**Post date:** [February 21, 2008, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-bug/438526/2 "2008-02-21T14:44:09Z")

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Some Crab spiders resemble your description: [Yahoo | Mail, Weather, Search, Politics, News, Finance, Sports & Videos](http://www.geocities.com/brisbane_spiders/Thomisidae.htm) , but they have 6 visible legs.

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**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\
**Post date:** [February 21, 2008, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-bug/438526/3 "2008-02-21T14:59:31Z")

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Don’t know of any bugs with 4 legs, but many spiders sit with pairs of legs groups together so that it might appear they have 4 legs. Here’s some examples:

[http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=st+andrew's+cross+spider&gbv=2](http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=st+andrew%27s+cross+spider&gbv=2)

Sailboat

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\
**Post date:** [February 21, 2008, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-bug/438526/4 "2008-02-21T15:31:16Z")

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Based on the pictures there, I think it may be closely related to this: [Diaea dorsata - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diaea_dorsata)

It’s not quite an exact match, but because it was a bug, I must confess to not having looked at it extremely closely. I am pretty sure it didn’t have the mark shown on the picture, but everything else seems to fit - I suppose its legs may have been positioned strangely or perhaps lost, but everything else looks pretty close.

On further reflection, I think it’s possible that the front part of its body may have been missing altogether; it may very well have been dead or close to it. Not exactly the wisest hiding place, my dog’s food bowl…

Thanks 🙂