ONH Spiders - Goldenrod Crab Spider

Goldenrod Crab Spider

Misumena vatia

3643
1 - Goldenrod Crab Spider, Misumena vatia, female in a characteristic pose on a daffodil flower.
06/03/2011 Heart O' the Hills Area, Olympic National Park, Washington
1179
2 - Goldenrod Crab Spider, male with a captured fly.
04/24/2005 Heart O' the Hills Area, Olympic National Park, Washington
1092
3 - Goldenrod Crab Spider, female.
09/21/2008 Port Angeles, Washington
1959
4 - Goldenrod Crab Spider, female on a garden chive flower.
05/21/2005 Heart O' the Hills Area, Olympic National Park, Washington
4186
5 - Goldenrod Crab Spider, female on a cultivated rhododendron. Slides 5, 6 and 7 show the same individual.
05/21/2005 Heart O' the Hills Area, Olympic National Park, Washington
4209
6 - Goldenrod Crab Spider, female on a cultivated rhododendron. Slides 5, 6 and 7 show the same individual.
05/21/2005 Heart O' the Hills Area, Olympic National Park, Washington
4242
7 - Goldenrod Crab Spider, female on a cultivated rhododendron. Slides 5, 6 and 7 show the same individual.
05/21/2005 Heart O' the Hills Area, Olympic National Park, Washington
4243
8 - Goldenrod Crab Spider, male with a captured fly.
06/12/2008 Heart O' the Hills Area, Olympic National Park, Washington
7628
9 - Goldenrod Crab Spider, female on native Pacific RhododendronRhododendron macrophylum.
06/22/2010 Blue Mountain/Deer Park, Olympic National Park
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10 - Goldenrod Crab Spider, female.
06/15/2012 Heart O' the Hills Area, Olympic National Park, Washington
1090099
11 - Goldenrod Crab Spider female on a daffodil flower.
05/09/2013 Heart O' the Hills Area, Olympic National Park, Washington
1130202
12 - Goldenrod Crab Spider female.
07/06/2013 Obstruction Point Road near the Cox Valley Trailhead, Olympic National Park, Washington
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13 - Goldenrod Crab Spider female.
05/26/2014 Salt Creek Recreation Area, Washington
1220405
14 - Goldenrod Crab Spider female with a syrphid fly prey.
06/09/2014 Obstruction Point Road near the Cox Valley Trailhead, Olympic National Park, Washington
1260287
15 - Goldenrod Crab Spider female on thistle.
08/10/2014 Salt Creek Recreation Area, Washington
1770084
16 - Goldenrod Crab Spider female with bumble bee approaching.
06/06/2018 Heart O' the Hills Area, Olympic National Park, Washington
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17 - Goldenrod Crab Spider female with bumble bee prey.
05/17/2016 Heart O' the Hills Area, Olympic National Park, Washington
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18 - Goldenrod Crab Spider female in an Oxeye Daisy that she has modified with silk.
06/28/2004 Heart O' the Hills Area, Olympic National Park, Washington
0586
19 - Goldenrod Crab Spider female on a reconstructed flower made of Thimbleberry petals.
06/30/2002 Heart O' the Hills Area, Olympic National Park, Washington

The Goldenrod Crab Spider, Misumena vatia, occurs in North America and Europe. It’s a medium-sized and common spider that uses a wait and grab strategy to catch flower-visiting insects, including bumble bees, honey bees and many flies, including large bee-mimic flies. Females are 6 to 9 mm long and either mostly yellow or mostly white, sometimes with reddish stripes.

Females can change from white to yellow and back over a few days by manipulating color-reflecting (and fluorescent) granules under the cuticle, but not all females match the flower they are on. Bees can distinguish colors extremely well, but female Goldenrod Crab Spiders can match their color to the flower they are on so well that bees may not be able to see the difference in colors.

Like other crab spiders, they do not spin webs, but spin silk for other purposes. In some cases, Goldenrod Crab Spider females modify flowers to create a better trap for insects (slides 18 and 19).

The darker and slimmer males are about 3 to 4 mm. long. Males hunt in the same manner as females, holding still with widely stretched forelegs waiting for prey.

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