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Flower crab spider with prey

Misumena sp

Photo by textless
Published on Project Noah
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36.9537, -107.45

Field Notes

Description:

This little crab spider had captured a bee fly at least twice its size. It was so focused on its meal that it let me get really close. It was on an aster plant in a dry stream bed near Navajo Lake, NM.

Reference Links:

Flower crab spider

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (13)
textless
Thanks bjohnson... I love the idea of sharing this picture (or any of my bug pictures) with students. I thought it was funny that I never noticed the little face shape on the spider until auntnance pointed it out, and then it seemed like the most striking thing about the photo.
bjohnson
This is a wonderful spotting I plan on sharing it at our school. At first all I saw was the face on the abdomen of the spider.
Ashish
Amadee I have done little corrected IDs. Hope it look better to read.
KarenL
Great shot! The bee fly looks like it could be Poecilanthrax californicus.
textless
Wow... how did I not notice that the spider's abdomen looked like a face? But now that you mention it, it really does! Thanks auntnance.
auntnance123
Did you notice the face on the spider's abdomen? (in the thumbnail it looked like a fairy wearing a flower hat) The prey is one of the bee flies
textless
Thanks you guys! At first I just saw the fly, so the spider was a bonus (for me, not the poor fly).
textless
Thanks Dan, and thanks for the link. It's amazing to see that tiny jumping spider with the humongous meal. :)
Dan Doucette
Wow, nice shot! I can't believe how large some of the prey are that spiders capture. Reminds me of this spotting. http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/6912932

Spotted for Missions

Mission
International Spider Survey

Tags

Photographed
PublishedOctober 8, 2011

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