crab spider ambushing insects from inside the flower itself
- Size
- Length: 3–12 mm
- Lifespan
- 1–2 years
- Diet
- Predatory: ambushes and feeds on insects including bees, flies, moths and butterflies. Does not build a web. Waits motionless on flowers for unsuspecting prey to approach.
- Habitat
- Flowers, leaves and shrubs throughout New Zealand. Ambush hunters, sitting motionless on flowers and waiting for insects to come to them. Crab-like legs allow them to walk sideways and forwards.
- Range
- Throughout North and South Islands in gardens, native forests, grasslands and coastal dunes. Most common in lowland areas with abundant flowers.
- Endemism
- Native
- Main Threats
- Habitat loss from urban development and intensive agriculture. Pesticide use in gardens and farmland which kills both spiders and their insect prey.
- Population
- Not Threatened. Common throughout New Zealand, though easily overlooked because of small size and habit of sitting perfectly still. Several native species as well as some introduced ones.
- Conservation Status
- Not Threatened
The ambush artist of the flower garden. A spider that does not build webs.
Small and flattened with long, crab-like front legs held out to the sides, the crab spider varies widely in colour from white to yellow, green and brown. Many species can change colour slowly to match the flower they are hiding on. This camouflage is their superpower. A spider that wears the colour of its hunting ground.
They do not build webs. They do not chase. They pick a flower, sit perfectly still and wait. When a bee, fly or butterfly lands to feed on the nectar, the crab spider strikes. It grabs the insect with those long front legs, delivers a quick, paralyzing bite and holds on until the struggling stops. A spider that lets its prey come to it.
They are strong enough to catch insects much larger than themselves. Crab spiders have a gruesome reputation among beekeepers. A single crab spider hiding on a flower can kill dozens of honey bees in a single day, grabbing them as they come in to land. A spider that does not discriminate.
The colour change is not instantaneous. It takes several days, triggered by the spider moulting and producing new pigment to match its surroundings. A white spider on a white flower may turn yellow after a week on a yellow bloom. A slow transformation. A patient hunter.
Not currently threatened, crab spiders are the hidden killers of the garden. They are admired by naturalists for their hunting strategy and cursed by beekeepers for their appetite.
The flower is white. The spider is white. The bee lands. The spider strikes. The bee does not see it coming.
That is the point.