Thomisus is a genus of crab spiders belonging to the family Thomisidae, which is distributed in various parts of the world. This genus has an estimated 142 described species.
The physical similarity of almost all members of Thomisidae to crabs causes them to be commonly called crab spiders.
The calm behavior of crab spiders wherever they are seems to make prey such as flower pollinators reduce their level of alertness towards this predator. Yes, I noticed that crab spiders on the one hand have a killing instinct but on the other hand, they have a high level of patience. They know when is the right time to ambush prey.
Here I am sharing two species of crab spiders: The first is Thomisus labefactus, which can be identified as being translucent white, and the second is Thomisus okinawensia, which is translucent light green—this little guy was caught paralyzing a lesser grass blue (butterfly).
All of the images here are my work, taken with a Xiaomi POCO NFC smartphone and an assembled external macro lens.
