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Stands very flat with its legs very outstretched, doubles-up its front legs (first pic looks like it only has 6 legs). Brownish-dark gray, not quite black. It's alive, but it wasn't particular active or spry when I saw it.

Picture of unidentified bug

Edit: more pictures, with a quarter for scale

front back

Also, sorry for the cup, but I was under strict orders not to lift it.

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  • $\begingroup$ yikes! There are a lot of spiders who double-up their front legs for some reason so that at first glance it looks like they only have six. I don't know if that's the case here but it certainly might be. Also see google search spider appears to have six legs Have you seen it move and confirm it walks with six (and that it's actually a living thing and not a prank?) Can you also edit your question and add the approximate size? Thanks! $\endgroup$
    – uhoh
    May 29, 2022 at 2:16
  • $\begingroup$ See also Are there any spider species out there that only have 6 legs? and as mentioned on your previous weird looking insect identification question, refer to biology.stackexchange.com/tags/species-identification/info $\endgroup$
    – uhoh
    May 29, 2022 at 2:29
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    $\begingroup$ something for scale had been nice,is that thing 2m or 2mm? $\endgroup$
    – trond hansen
    May 29, 2022 at 2:30
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    $\begingroup$ @trondhansen and hopefully before I have to go to sleep tonight :-) $\endgroup$
    – uhoh
    May 29, 2022 at 2:30
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    $\begingroup$ @trondhansen it's pretty big and seems to have eight legs after all. $\endgroup$
    – uhoh
    May 29, 2022 at 5:40

1 Answer 1

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It appears to be an American nursery web spider (Pisaurina mira), a species of spider in the family Pisauridae (Nursery web spiders).

They tend to double up the front legs and they can have the dark median band on the abdomen like the one in the photos. They can be found in New York also and it is listed in the spiders found in New York here: https://spiderid.com/locations/united-states/new-york/

Some fishing spiders look similar but their size and pattern are different.

We can't see in the photos but you can also confirm by checking its eyes. This species has a unique straight anterior row of eyes where they are arranged in two rows.

enter image description here

Here is a similar one with a more clear photo I've found:

enter image description here
Source: https://www.spiderzrule.com/nursery-web-weaver/

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