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Goldenrod crab spider

Misumena vatia

Description:

These spiders may be yellow or white, depending on the flower in which they are hunting. Especially younger females, which may hunt on a variety of flowers such as daisies and sunflowers, may change color "at will". Older females require large amounts of relatively large prey to produce the best possible clutch of eggs. They are therefore, in North America, most commonly found in goldenrod (Solidago sp.), a bright yellow flower which attracts large numbers of insects, especially in autumn. It is often very hard even for a searching human to recognize one of these spiders on a yellow flower. These spiders are sometimes called banana spiders because of their striking yellow color. - from Wikipedia

Habitat:

Misumena vatia is a species of crab spider with holarctic distribution. In North America, where it is the largest and best-known flower spider, ... Wikipedia

Notes:

All these spiders were in my property. There are many now, especially on top of wild daisies.

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2 Comments

RiekoS
RiekoS 8 years ago

Thank you very much Maria dB. I just added more information.

Maria dB
Maria dB 8 years ago

Beautiful series! Could you please add to the habitat section where you saw them?

RiekoS
Spotted by
RiekoS

New York, USA

Spotted on Jun 22, 2015
Submitted on Jun 27, 2015

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