Crab Spiders
What are they?
Many crab spider species have a very specialized lifestyle. They don't make webs to catch prey, but instead they sit in wait in places that insects are likely to visit. For the so-called flower crab spiders in particular, this often means waiting among flowers for pollinator insects to arrive and they improve their chances of capturing prey by adopting colors that closely resemble those of the flowers within which they lurk. The ground crab spiders are more likely to be darker browns and grays in color to blend in with the ground substrates upon which they hunt. As with many spider groups, the males are much smaller than the females.
Identification
As a group, the distinctly crab-like look of these spiders immediately separates them out from other spider families. Most genera are best separated from each other by the arrangement of the eyes. While overall color is very variable, the type and position of any darker markings can help to identify an individual to species.
White-banded Crab Spider Misumenoides formosipes
A very common and very variable species, coming in a range of colors to match the flowers they are on. May be green, yellow, white or pink, with or without darker markings.
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Elegant Crab Spider Xysticus elegans
A common ground-hunting species that may be any shade of brown, or even blackish, usually with a distinct set of contrastingly-colored lines across the abdomen.
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