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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Arachnids (Arachnida) » Spiders (Araneae) » True Spiders (Araneomorphae) » Entelegynes » Crab Spiders (Thomisidae)
Photo#55874
Misumenoides Species on Yellow Hibiscus Flower
Copyright © 2006 Amanda L. Loomer

Misumenoides Species on Yellow Hibiscus Flower
Melbourne, Brevard County, Florida, USA
June 3, 2006
Size: 1/2"-3/4" at widest span
Upon very close examination of the photos, I see that there are only six eyes visible from the front, not eight, making this guy or girl a Misumenoides species. Misumenops genus was ruled out due to lack of hair. It was found on the underside of a yellow hibiscus flower at 4:30pm. I spotted the spider after I got the flower inside. He/she made a good effort at threat posturing to scare me away until I took these pictures and returned it to another hibiscus flower outside. When outside and exposed to sunlight, it very quickly ran to the underside of the flower again.

Images of this individual: tag all
Misumenoides Species on Yellow Hibiscus Flower Misumenoides Species on Yellow Hibiscus Flower
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Contributed by Amanda L. Loomer on 5 June, 2006 - 1:00am
Last updated 18 June, 2006 - 1:09pm

Can't see the eyes clearly,
but that red triangular face looks like Misumena to us. Misumenoides would have a horizontal ridge through the eyes that we don't see here. But these drive us in circles constantly. The best we could figure we put on the Misumena info page here
… john and jane balaban, 21 June, 2006 - 4:12pm login or register to post comments

Found It!! (Misumenoides formosipes)
I just found a resource (the first I've found to be as useful as this one) where I was able to run down this spider. There is only one Misumenoides sp. native to the US and Canada (Misumenoides formosipes). M.formosipes is known to vary in color depending on what color the flower is that the eggs hatch onto, which accounts for the extreme variation among the previously-posted images. I found other images outside of bugguide of specimens that have the same dark band across the eyes that is missing in the pictures already posted on this site. I didn't see enough similarity in the pictures already posted to decide one way or another. I guess mine can be added to the pile now. :-)

Check this site out. It has no pictures, but in conjunction with bugguide.net, it's amazing.

http://annual.sp2000.org/2006/browse_taxa.php?path=0,16957387,16957552,16957553,16957554&selected_taxon=16957554
… Amanda L. Loomer, 11 June, 2006 - 3:42am login or register to post comments

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