Crab Spiders are rather shy but remarkable little spiders. You can tell how they got that name from the crab-like pose in the above photograph.
They like to wait on flowers for a bee or butterfly to visit, then they swiftly grab the hapless insect, inject a fast acting venom and enjoy a tasty snack!
This strategy serves them well as they often take prey items much larger and seemingly stronger than themselves. The body rarely exceeds 1cm but they can and do take down honeybees and other pollinating insects!
Zoomed out a bit we can see that it's not very big at all!
From the side too:
Looking a bit closer we can see a few small petal like stuctures stuck to the spider's face:
These are in fact the scales from a butterfly's wings! If you've picked up a butterfly or moth and noticed some powder on your fingers, it is these scales. The scales break off easily and make for a slippery effect. Whether they worked as intended and allowed the butterfly to escape or are merely the last remnants of the spider's meal, I do not know for certain.
Another fascinating thing about these spiders is that they change colour to match the flowers that they hide upon. In the above pictures, the bright white colour isn't exactly the best camouflage. It's not the fast colour changing like a chameleon or cuttlefish, rather it takes days and weeks. A few weeks later, that same spider looked like this:
It's much harder to spot now! It's holding the first two pairs of legs open, waiting patiently for it's dinner to come to it!
A few weeks past the photo where the spider was yellow, it's now full mature and even more camouflaged: A brown pattern has emerged on the legs and body, matching the older flower petals as they age and are damaged:
Look at those massive biceps:
I hope that last image shows up, the preview isn't rendering for some reason.
I also hope that you've enjoyed the post! Have a wonderful day!