New Spider!

I guess posting that Persephone was gone gave me good luck in finding a new spider - I came across a little crab spider in my backyard - it looks kinda like a Northern Crab Spider (Misumenops asperatus) but that's just a cursory field guide estimate. It is still the same family, Thomisidae, and it has pinkish colorations on a white background. It's a bit smaller than the other one, but it might be a very young crab spider, so hopefully I will be able to see it change as it grows. Anyway, here are the pictures - the name is Rosie. I don't know if it is male or female - it seems the biggest determinant is size, with females being larger, so if it grows a bit more that should suggest it is a female.

I'll post some pictures of her feeding eventually - just letting her get used to her new habitat for now. Her first meal of the day was a little fly, once she's done I have another one ready for her.

*Edit - and here they are!

Persephone - a little over a month

I have had Persephone for a little over a month now - she is still thriving. She's quite feisty too - she managed to survive a cat knocking the jar over - luckily she took cover under a nearby shoe so I was able to find her rather quickly. Her favorite food is still honeybees, but since it's been so rainy and cold lately, the bees hadn't been out and I had to catch her the occasional fly, which she would drain in about 10 minutes. The other day the bees were back so I caught her one and, once again, she worked on it for a few hours. I even saw her rotating it around to try to get every last drop out. She has also developed some maroon side spots, and her front half seems to have a more greenish hue to it - hopefully she will continue to become more colorful!

During the bee-less month



After feeding

Crab Spider Day 2

Persephone did not seem too fond of the fly, so I gave her a honeybee today, which she quite readily snapped up and has been devouring for over 16 hours. I took some photos, in which you can see how much her abdomen has engorged, indicating how hungry she was before she came under my care. Other than that, no notable changes. It is winter here in California, so despite insect forays I have not come up with many interesting specimens.

Also, here is some information from my field guide about Goldenrod Crab Spiders - Females tend to be yellowish-white with crimson streaks on each side of the abdomen, and a reddish-brown stain between the eyes. The female's legs tend to be pale, they inhabit meadows, fields, and gardens on daisies, goldenrod, and other white or yellow flowers. They are found throughout North America and Canada. They prey on flower-visiting insects, hence why she didn't like the fly very much. They administer a bite that injects fast-acting venom, and they can capture insects much larger than themselves. The females protect an egg sac for a time, but the female usually dies before the spiders hatch (usually 3 weeks after being laid).

Experiment in Spider Rearing

Well, my friend found a crab spider in her car, and I had been considering taking on a spider as a pet, so I decided this one would be as good as any. Plus, it being a crab spider, it does not spin webs and instead sits on flowers waiting for a passing insect, so it's a lot less messy. I have it set up on a stalk of rosemary, and it has already captured its first meal - it seemed quite happy about it. The first name that came to mind was Percival (Percy for short) - I have no clue why, but that name has stuck.

Araneae; Araneomorphae; Entelegynes; Thomisidae; Misumena vatia (female)
Common Name: Goldenrod Flower Spider

As for its actual name, it is a crab spider (family Thomisidae) of the genus Misumena based on the bugguide explanation.

Misumena is distinguished from Misumenoides and Misumenops (two other common flower crab spiders) by having eight readily visible eyes, all approximately the same size, and the lateral eyes situated on tubercles. I just checked under the scope, and Percy was good and sat there looking straight up at the lens, so I got a good look.

Misumenoides often has a prominent ridge separating the rows of eyes into four posterior and four anterior, but most characteristic is the "mustache" or lateral tubercle/prominance just above the chelicerae (the pair of appendages to which the fangs are attached).

Misumenops has the lateral pair on tubercles like Misumena, but the posterior lateral eyes are slightly larger than the medial pair.

Crab spiders are capable of changing their color to match their surroundings, and include morphs such as white, greenish, yellow, with varying degrees of brown and black. I wonder if Percy will change colors now that it is on purple rosemary flowers, and green leaves rather than the whitish interior of a Prius. I would love to find a green lynx spider, I think they are simply gorgeous, but alas I doubt I will find one again soon. I spotted one once in San Diego - with any luck I'll run into one again and be able to keep it as a pet for a bit. Today marks the first day of taking care of Percy - we shall see how long it lives.

*Edit: It appears that Percy is a FEMALE Goldenrod Crab Spider, so I am going to change the name from Percy to Persephone. Special thanks to a bugguide user for identification. Seems like there is a good chance she'll change color. My field guide with pictures (the same one that initially misled me on the caddisfly) suggested that it was a Goldenrod Crab Spider, but I was not feeling very confident in the guide, and did not want to base my ID on a general picture alone.*