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Crab Spider on Yarrow

Crab Spider on Yarrow
I just couldn't get this image right, mainly, I suspect, because some of the white flowers were blown-out. Gave up in the end : ) This was another find when several of us botanized Sarah Leete's land, NW of Cochrane, on 15 July 2013. Crab Spiders can change their colour to adapt to the colour of the flowers they are on, so I'm surprised this tiny one was bright yellow, making it much easier to see.

"Crab spider is a common name applied loosely to many species of spiders, but most nearly consistently to members of the family Thomisidae. Among the Thomisidae it refers most often to the familiar species of "flower crab spiders", though not all members of the family are limited to ambush hunting in flowers.

Thomisidae do not build webs to trap prey, though all of them produce silk for drop lines and sundry reproductive purposes; some are wandering hunters and the most widely known are ambush predators. Some species sit on or beside flowers or fruit, where they grab visiting insects. Individuals of some species, such as Misumena vatia (which I believe is shown n my photo), are able to change color over a period of some days, to match the flower on which they are sitting. Some species frequent promising positions among leaves or bark, where they await prey, and some of them will sit in the open, where they are startlingly good mimics of bird droppings. However, note that these members of the family Thomisidae are not to be confused with the spiders that generally are called bird dropping spiders, not all of which are close relatives of crab spiders.... The spiders of Thomisidae are not known to be harmful to humans." From Wikipedia.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crab_spider

, LeapFrog have particularly liked this photo


Comments
 LeapFrog
LeapFrog
Impressive clarity on this shot of the Goldenrod Crab Spider ... great find and excellent contrasting colours ... very well taken and superb presentation!!
10 years ago.

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