Slender Crab Spiders (Tibellus sp. (Simon, 1875))
Scientific name: Tibellus sp. (Simon, 1875)
Common name: Slender Crab Spiders
French name:
Order: Araneae
Family: Philodromidae
Size: 8 à 10 mm.
Biotope: Open habitats with low growing vegetation.
Web: No web. These spiders are used to sitting in wait for preys, staying immobile along plant stems or on leaves.
Observation period: April to September in France.
Geographic area: The Tibellus genus is found on all continents. I have found 7 species listed in Europe, with 3 of them listed in France : Tibellus oblongus, Tibellus maritimus and Tibellus macellus.
You can recognize spiders of the Philodromidae family by the fact that the legs of their second pair are slightly longer than the other ones.
The eye pattern is also a way to determine the Philodromidae family. The four anterior eyes are all the same size. The posterior median eyes are very far from each other. Each one is closer to the posterior lateral eye than to the other posterior median eye.
Members of the Tibellus genus, also called Slender Crab Spiders, show an elongated body that is light beige in colour with brown markings. The first two pairs of legs are often stretched forward along a stem.
The abdomen is marked by a darker brown dorsal band and by a variable number of black dot pairs.
You cannot tell species apart with only field pictures except maybe the maculatus subspecies of Tibellus oblongus which shows a very large number of black dots over the abdomen. You need an exam of the genitalia for the other ones.

Slender Crab Spiders (Tibellus sp.) - Saône-et-Loire, France - April 22nd 2016
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Slender Crab Spiders (Tibellus sp.)
I have read that Tibellus oblongus is the most common species but you can only mention Tibellus sp. with only a picture.


Slender Crab Spiders (Tibellus sp.) - Saône-et-Loire, France - April 8th 2017
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Slender Crab Spiders (Tibellus sp.)
This sighting was made exactly at the same place as the previous one, above, a year later.


Slender Crab Spiders (Tibellus sp.) - Saône-et-Loire, France - July 5th 2021
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Slender Crab Spiders (Tibellus sp.)
The length of the legs of the second pair points to the Philodromidae family. The elongated body points towards the Tibellus genus. I think it's a male.

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