Godenrod Crab Spider

[Trent Watts]

A big cream coloured blob sitting on top of my Galardia flower made be turn around and have a closer look. It turned out to be a Crab Spider (I think a Goldenrod Crab Spider) sitting in wait for a pollinator. This is a female and from the side view she looks due to give birth. These are ambush hunters and have been reported to change colour depending on the colour of the flowers where they are hunting. They sit in wait and pounce on an insect that comes to visit the flower. You can just see the spikes on the two front legs that are used to hold the prey once caught.
The wind was gusting a bit so the flower was moving too much to get a decent shot so I used a tripod with a flexible clamp to fix the flower so it didn't move. The spider did not move away so it made it much easier to gt a shot.

 

[AlanLichty]

You are really putting the close in the concept of close-up. I didn't even recognize that this was a galardia bloom at first. How big is her typical prey given her tiny stature?

 

[JimFox]

I have never seen spiders like this in real life, all the ones I see are always black. So this is a nice change of pace. Great job on both.

 

[MonikaC]

Wow, she literally looks ready to pop! Good job on stabilizing the flower for a clean shot of the spider.

 

[Trent Watts]

Thanks everyone. I appreciate your comments.