My crab spider friends are back!
Great Lakes region, USA. June 2026.
I've been on the lookout for flower oriented crab spiders for a few weeks and I'm finally spotting them. I think she's a lady 'cause she's thicc. I'm fairly sure she's a Goldenrod Crab Spider (Misumena vatia).
4 replies
That's super cool, we don't have those here in NZ
Not Misumena specificity, you do have Cymbachina and Sidymella.
True that
Most certainly, the females and males of this species look quite distinct. The females are usually uniformly white or yellow (they can actually change colour) with two stripes on the side of the abdomen. The males have either a white or black leg- (often with banding) and cephalothorax sections (with a central stripe), with a white or yellow abdomen and two central stripes.