We found a spider/ant what can it be???

Question

it looks like a 3'' ant with 8 legs and has red hairs.It runs very fast.we live in Arizona and have never seen anything like it before.it looks like no spider we have ever seen.

Answer 1

These are for insects -

http://www.einsteins-emporium.com/life/a...

http://www.whatsthatbug.com/

http://www.insectimages.org/

This is for spiders -

http://www.spideridentification.org/

Answer 2

Send me a photo and I'll ID it for you.

If it truly has eight legs it's NOT an insect.  The "red" hairs throw me off a little, but it sounds like it might be a Sun Spider, which is not really a spider at all, but more related to Scorpions.   They are harmless, but can nip.

Answer 3

Red romans look exactly like you described. Look at the big teeth and the independed jaws adn then you will know.

Answer 4

I have seen an ant mimic spider (in fact I saw it anly a week or so ago) that mimiced a wingless wasp.  It was covered in red hair as you described.  But the size really throws me off.  This guy was half an inch long.  However your wingless wasps their are larger so it may be possible to mimic the larger ones.  If you did not specifically say eight legs I would have said it was a wingless wasp.

Answer 5

Well it's defiantely in the spider family if it has eight legs.  If you could get a picture of it, it'd be a lot easier to identify.