Crab spider, on cow parsley
Misumena vatia
Crab spider · The Cotswolds · 12 June 2025
A crab spider on a hogweed flowerhead in a Cotswold meadow, front legs held out wide the way crab spiders do at rest, ready to grab whatever lands within reach rather than chasing anything down. It is a spider of flowery grassland and hedgerow across Britain and Europe, and a big umbellifer head in June is its hunting ground.
White with a red stripe along each side of the abdomen. This species can change colour between white and yellow over a few days to match the flower it is sitting on, and takes bees and hoverflies much larger than itself, holding them with the two long front pairs of legs while the venom works.
Birds, insects, plants and other wildlife, mostly from Brooklyn, with some from further afield.
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