Taxonomy
Misumena vatia | Damhán Portáin Blátha
Distribution
Status
Conservation status
Not Assessed
Legal status
Not Protected
Species Biology
Identification
A crab spider, which can grow up to 10mm in length, with males being much smaller.
Species can be white, greenish white to yellow in colour, depending on the background colour of the plant it is on.
It has two green lines on either side of the thorax and can sometimes have red stripes on the abdomen.
Preferred environment
It can be found in a range of habitats, including grassland and gardens, usually hidden on flowering plants.
Diet
A wide range of prey, flies (including hoverflies), bees, butterflies and more.
Ecology
It tends to be found on the flowering head of plants.
It uses adaptive camouflage to blend in to the particular flower or vegetation that it is waiting on. This camouflage is useful for catching unsuspecting prey visiting or attempting to feed or nectar from those flowers.
Distribution
World distribution(GBIF)
Temporal change
Records submitted to Data Centre in 2023
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