This is the season of daisies. That means that this is also the time of crab spiders, the primary predator of daisy pollinators. The crab spider sits quietly on the daisy and waits for a pollinator. It then immobilizes it with a venom, and sucks its juices.
Now the oxeye daisy is an invasive species, so whether the crab spider arrived with them, or adopted them upon daisy arrival is unknown. They do hunt from other flowers, but here the crab spider seems to prefer the daisy. So, look for crab spiders on daisies. But being a predator, the crab spider only waits on one out of every few hundred daisies, so it takes some careful looking to find them.
The daisy seems to suit the crab spider very well for the daisy flower has two main colours, yellow and white. Remarkably, the crab spider can camouflage itself in either yellow or white, although it takes a few days to completely change colour.
A crab spider rests on the central disc and matches its yellow colour.
This crab spider is partway between yellow and white. It has spotted a small bug to its left.
It grabs the bug and sucks it.
The male crab spider never grows as big as the female.
A white crab spider watches a fly get closer, but, the fly flew off before being caught.
Lovely shots, Alistair. Just by coincidence I was reading about crab spiders (and other spiders) last night in a great new book called Eight Legged Wonders by James O’Hanlon, an Australian entomologist. Indeed, he describes the process by which they can change their colour to match their background. The book is highly recommended!
Thanks
Mel
Smithers, BC
Great pics and detail information…predator…colur change and a insect snatch `caught by you !! Fascinating! Thanks!
Allan / Woodbury Village