| Flower Crab Spider (Misumena vatia (Clerck, 1757)) |
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Scientific name: Misumena vatia (Clerck, 1757) Common name: Flower Crab Spider Other names: Goldenrod Crab Spider French name: Thomise variable, Misumène cagneuse, Araignée citron, Araignée crabe. Order: Araneae Family: Thomisidae Size: Females: 7 to 11 mm; Males: 3 to 5 mm. Biotope: Places with flowers, flower meadows, road sides. Web: No web. Observation period: May to July. Geographic area: Europe, Asia, North America, North Africa. |
Females Misumena vatia may be pale green, white or yellow depending on the colour of the flower where they sit. The abdomen gets larger backwards and is rounded at the rear. The cephalothorax bears two lateral brownish yellow or grey stripes. The front part of the abdomen sometimes shows two lateral red stripes. The two fore pair of legs are longer than the two hind pair of legs. Males, which are much smaller, have a black or brownish red cephalothorax with a paler central band. The abdomen is white with two dark longitudinal lines. This spider can catch large insects like butterflies. |
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This Flower Crab Spider is well hidden on top of this Hemp-agrimony because of its colour and its immobility. |
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It has been vey easy to get close and shoot a close-up picture. |
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This Flower Crab Spider must have recently changed of flower. This is a white form on a yellow flower. Changing of colour, to adapt to this new flower, requires several days. |
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Flower Crab Spiders do not spin web but they use a silk thread as a safety cord or to help moving from one flower to another. |
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After one white Misumena vatia on a yellow flower, here is a yellow one on a white flower. This one has caught a Black-striped Longhorn Beetle. |
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Here is one form with pale green legs and cephalothorax. The abdomen is yellowish white. |
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Flower Crab Spiders sometimes attack preys that are much bigger than them. |
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I wonder how all this is attached not to fall on the ground. |
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Here is a male observed on an umbellifer flower. |
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The colours of the male make it much more visible on the flowers. |
André Bon February 2024