I saw this spider one recent morning on the face of a wild carrot flower (Queen Ann's Lace). It wasn't until I looked at the photo on the computer that I noticed it was feeding on some kind of plume moth. After some internet searching, I think I found it's name: the flower crab spider
(misumena vatia).
A white flower crab spider feeding.
Apparently, this spider can change its color from white to yellow depending on the color of the flower it's hunting on. In North America they're often called goldenrod crab spiders after their preferred spot to hunt. Naturally, those are yellow.
A closer look.
Crab spiders are very successful stealth hunters and will take prey much bigger than themselves -- basically anything that arrives on their chosen flower. The prey in this case is some sort of plume moth.
ReplyDeletesusan, ah, thanks. I couldn't figure out why its wings are opaque. I've looked up plume moths and found a match.
DeleteSpider-tacular photo!
ReplyDeletedang, what a big guy! or is it the camera making him look fat?
ReplyDeletethe grapes are looking marvy!
I don't like bugs, but these are lovely photos of the spider, which truly looks like a crab.
ReplyDeleteFabulous photos, Walt!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteAmazing photo!! :-) You've almost made me like spiders .... almost
ReplyDeleteWonderful photos. Spiders are unusual in that pictures of them bother me more than actually seeing them live. With rodents, snakes and such it is the opposite.
ReplyDelete