The Flower Crab Spider

So called from the crab like way the front legs are arranged so that it can run sideways. They are longer and stronger than the back legs.

As its name also suggests, it looks like a baby spider crab except it’s white. Or not.

It takes a few days but females can change colour to match the flower it lives on. Although this one is white to blend in with what might be hog weed, it has red candy stripes on its abdomen.

Flower Crab Spiders don’t bother to spin a web to trap insects. Too much hard work. Takes too long. They spin a thread to move from flower to flower where they lay in wait to ambush pollinating insects. .

Their venom (not dangerous to humans) is powerful enough to kill prey much larger than themselves such as bees (as seen above) unfortunate enough to go too near.

The Flower Crab Spider is very obliging to photographers. It’s easy to get up close and personal to capture nature in all its gory raw. This week’s images were captured in our garden using a Pixel 2XL mobile phone.

Post by Pamela, photography by Mark.