# What is this Louisiana bee-ant spider dude? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 6, 2010, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-louisiana-bee-ant-spider-dude/538560 "2010-05-06T21:42:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Toaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@Toaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toaster)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-louisiana-bee-ant-spider-dude/538560/1 "2010-05-06T21:42:05Z")
[http://culex.us/ig/beespider.jpg](http://culex.us/ig/beespider.jpg) is my happy version of what it looked like. It was fast, kept its body low to the ground, inside the house, Baton Rouge, LA. Running around the living room in the middle of the day, not in a web or anything. Red head/thorax, clearish yellow legs as long as its abdomen, black abdomen, 3 yellow side-to-side stripes. I have no eye-count, let alone palp details. 1 cm long. I can’t find any spider ID sites that aren’t “submit a picture, wait a year for an answer.” What is it? Will it kill me tonight? ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-louisiana-bee-ant-spider-dude/538560/2 "2010-05-06T23:45:28Z")
Something like [this](http://bugguide.net/node/view/121391/bgimage) or [this](http://bugguide.net/node/view/74351/bgimage)? ---
**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-louisiana-bee-ant-spider-dude/538560/3 "2010-05-06T23:56:06Z")
The [red-headed ash-borer](http://www.insectidentification.org/insect-description.asp?identification=Red-Headed-Ash-Borer) is a beetle, but fits the description, and could be mistaken for a wasp/spider kinda fella. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-louisiana-bee-ant-spider-dude/538560/4 "2010-05-07T00:20:36Z")
Are you sure you got the number of legs right? ---
**Author:** ![Toaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@Toaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toaster)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-louisiana-bee-ant-spider-dude/538560/5 "2010-05-07T00:28:59Z")
Absolutely positive it was an eight-legger. Doesn’t fit any of the above though. The head-thorax part was basically a sphere, with the long skinny abdomen part. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-louisiana-bee-ant-spider-dude/538560/6 "2010-05-07T00:59:21Z")
A [magnolia green jumper](http://bugguide.net/node/view/278191/bgimage), maybe? It sounds like the abdomen was the wrong color, but some of the pics show darker abdomens–it may depend on how recently the spider has fed, or some other factor. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-louisiana-bee-ant-spider-dude/538560/7 "2010-05-07T01:09:23Z")
? [spider closeup | image captured 20090408 | Doni | Flickr](http://www.flickr.com/photos/redlightphotography/3424946615/) ---
**Author:** ![Toaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@Toaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toaster)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-louisiana-bee-ant-spider-dude/538560/8 "2010-05-07T01:29:25Z")
After some finagling with **Balance** and my guy who could handle looking at it longer than I could, it seems to be related to Dysderidae types…with the big fangly holder dealybobs. [Family Dysderidae - BugGuide.Net](http://bugguide.net/node/view/3386/bgpage) Just…none I can find have a black abdomen, with bright yellow stripes on it. Hm. ---
**Author:** ![lynne-42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lynne-42/32/3138_2.png) [@lynne-42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lynne-42)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-louisiana-bee-ant-spider-dude/538560/9 "2010-05-07T02:53:40Z")
You have the legs coming from the abdomen, but all spiders have the legs from the cephalothorax. Can you redraw and see if that makes it look more or less like what you saw? Because the legs coming from a segment other than the head indicates an insect, not a spider. It’s not going to kill you. There is no deadly spider which fits that description. ---
**Author:** ![feppytweed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/feppytweed/32/4280_2.png) [@feppytweed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/feppytweed)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-louisiana-bee-ant-spider-dude/538560/10 "2010-05-07T03:04:57Z")
I’m from right next door to LA, and the first thing that popped into mind was > **[Ant with red head, trunk and black metasoma with white ring around it -...](https://bugguide.net/node/view/151042)** > > An online resource devoted to North American insects, spiders and their kin, offering identification, images, and information. This little guy… I’ve always called 'em cow ants but I think wiki calls it velvet ant. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-louisiana-bee-ant-spider-dude/538560/11 "2010-05-07T03:41:41Z")
> [@feppytweed](#): > > This little guy… I’ve always called 'em cow ants but I think wiki calls it velvet ant. If Toaster and CoBa both managed to mistake a cow ant for a spider, I’m going to have stern words with them. Well, among those words will be “_killitkillitkillit_”, but the rest will be plenty stern. Drawing aside, let’s assume it’s actually a spider until told otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-louisiana-bee-ant-spider-dude/538560/12 "2010-05-07T10:07:32Z")
Toaster, are you a commercial artist? ---
**Author:** ![Toaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@Toaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toaster)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-louisiana-bee-ant-spider-dude/538560/13 "2010-05-07T13:36:31Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > Toaster, are you a commercial artist? For a quarter I can be. And yes just assume the legs come from the right spot on the body in the drawing, and that it has the huge mandible triangles from the Dysdera family as I posted above. Spiders that are not jumping spiders scare me, especially when they look bee-like which I’m allergic to. The cow ant is color-ly the closest of all the spiders I’ve seen so far, but…nope. Too many segments, and it had no antennae.