MObugs: Metallic Crab Spider

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Metallic Crab Spider

This beautiful orange and purple spider is the Metallic Crab Spider (Philodromus marxi). They can be found from Eastern Texas eastward to the Atlantic Coast. I believe this one is a male. Many reports state that there are no photos of the female. Seems I have a mission next summer to try and find the female. I found several of the males in my yard, some were much more metallic than others. The one photographed here was a little drabber in color than previous ones I had seen.

Crab spiders come in so many different colors, sizes and shapes that it is amazing. This species was a new one for me this past summer. I had no idea what it was until I sent a photo into Bugguide.net. The people there are so helpful in identifying insects and spiders. I will say this spider is one of the most unique and probably one of the prettiest spiders I've seen in my yard.

2 comments:

MarvinDecember 25, 2009 at 2:44 AM
Wow! That is a colorful fellow. Definitely worth an enlarged look.
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Shelly CoxDecember 28, 2009 at 1:34 PM
These spiders are gorgeous, I had never seen them before. I was surprised to learn they were crab spiders. The coloring is spectacular.
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